^  PRINCETON,    N.  J. 


Farrar,  Frederic  William 

1831-1903. 
Ephphatha 


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EPHPHATHA 

OR 

Cijc  anuUoration  of  tte  OToilti 


SERMONS  PREACHED  AT  WESTMINSTER  ABBEY 
WITH  TWO  SERMONS 
PREACHED  IN  ST.  MARGARET'S  CHURCH 

AT 

THE  OPENING  OF  PARLIAMENT 


BY 

F.  W.  FARRAR,  D.D.,  F.R.S. 

CANON  OI'  WESTMINSTER,  AND  RECTOR  OF  ST.  MARGARET'S,  WESTMINSTER 


NEW  YORK 

MACMILLAN    AND  CO. 


TO  THE  VERY  REV. 

ARTHUR  PENRHYN  STANLEY,  D.D., 

DEAN  OF  WESTMINSTER, 

THAN  WHOM  FEW  LIVING  MEN  HAVE  SHOWN 
A  DEEPER  INTEREST  IN  EVERY  GOOD  WORK  WHICH  CAN 
HELP  FORWARD  THE  HAPPINESS  OF  ALL  CLASSHS, 
WHETHER  RICH  OR  POOR, 

E^cst  Sermons  nxt  ^tliitiittb 

WITH  SINCERE  AFFECTION  AND  RESPECT. 


PREFACE. 


The  seven  Sermons  which  give  their  title  to 
this  little  volume  were  preached  in  the  ordi- 
nasy  course  of  my  duties  at  Westminster 
Abbey  during  the  months  of  December  1879 
and  January  1880.  I  publish  them  partly 
in  obedience  to  the  requests  of  many  who 
desired  to  possess  them  in  a  permanent  form, 
but  chiefly  because  they  carry  out  one  con- 
secutive line  of  thought,  and  deal  with  some 
topics  which  are  not  frequently  touched  upon 
in  pulpit  exhortations. 

"  Pauperism,"  it  has  been  said,  is  national 
dishonour ;  so  is  drunkenness  ;  so  is  pre- 
ventible  disease ;  so  is  the  miserable  squalor 
in  which  our  poorest  classes  in  the  large  towns 
live,  even  when   they  escape  the  workhouse. 


viii 


PREFACE. 


These  are  the  most  real  and  formidable  ene- 
mies we  have  (as  a  nation)  to  contend  with, 
and  if  we  attack  them  sincerely,  we  shall  have 
fighting  enough  to  last  our  time.'  If  these 
Sermons  be  even  in  a  very  slight  degree 
effectual  in  diverting  the  thoughts  of  Chris- 
tians from  controversies  about  things  doubtful 
or  non-essential, — if  they  tend  to  deepen  the 
feeling  of  mutual  charity  among  all  who 
earnestly  desire  to  carry  on  the  work  of  Christ 
in  the  world, — they  will  have  fulfilled  the 
object  which  has  mainly  induced  me  to  let 
them  see  the  light.  If  the  main  thoughts 
here  urged  be  true  and  right,  perhaps  others 
may  pursue  them  with  greater  power  and 
more  advantage  to  the  general  good. 

We  are  told  by  Bishop  Burnett  that  it  was 
the  noble  study  of  the  Cambridge  Platonists 
"  to  propagate  better  thoughts,  to  take  men 
off  from  being  in  parties,  or  from  narrow 
notions,  superstitious  conceits,  and  fierceness 

■  Speech  of  Lord  Deiby  at  the  Mansion  Hoase,  March 
1st.  1880. 


FEE  FACE. 


IX 


about  opinions."  They  endeavoured  to  achieve 
these  aims  by  their  large  catholicity  of  spirit 
in  dealing  with  questions  of  theology;  but  the 
same  end  may  perhaps  be  also  furthered  by 
the  humble  endeavour  to  call  attention  to 
those  vast  fields  of  labour  in  which  all  sects 
and  classes  of  Christians  may  strenuously  and 
joyfully  take  a  common  part. 

The  eighth  and  ninth  Sermons  were  preached 
at  my  own  church  at  the  opening  of  two  ses- 
sions of  Parliament.  They  may  perhaps  serve 
to  show  that  it  is  possible  for  a  clergyman 
without  offence  to  deal  with  questions  which 
may  be  fairly  called  political.  They  were 
kindly  received  by  many  members  of  Parlia- 
ment who  differ  in  their  political  views,  and 
their  publication  was  even  requested  by  some 
of  these,  as  well  as  by  one  whose  high  rank 
and  office  might  well  entitle  him  to  regard  his 
request  almost  in  the  light  of  a  command. 

The  last  Sermon  was  preached  in  the 
Abbey  in  June  1879.  This  Sermon  also 
touches   more  or  less  on  political  considera- 


PREFACE. 


tions,  and  is  added  to  the  rest  in  obedience 
to  a  wish  which  I  could  not  disregard. 

Perhaps  it  is  superfluous  to  say  even  thus 
much  about  these  few  Sermons.  Apart  from 
the  living  voice,  and  such  interest  as  may  have 
been  derived  from  the  places  and  circum- 
stances in  which  they  were  spoken,  they  can 
but  be  regarded  as  dead  leaves.  Yet  even 
dead  leaves  may  have  their  use.  "  They  will 
reach  the  hands  of  the  reader  chill  and  dis- 
coloured ;  but  when,  in  the  autumn  evenings, 
the  leaves  fall  and  lie  on  the  ground,  more 
than  one  glance  may  still  fall  on  them,  more 
than  one  hand  still  gather  them.  And  even 
if  they  were  despised  of  all  alike,  the  wind 
may  sweep  them  away,  and  prepare  with  them 
a  couch  for  some  poor  man,  on  whom  Pro- 
vidence looks  down  with  love  from  the  height 
of  heaven." 

F.  W.  FARRAR. 
St.  Margaret's  Rectory,  Westminster. 


CONTENTS. 


SERMON  I.  .  ' 

PAtJK 

WHY  JESUS  SIGHED  I 

SERMON  II. 

SINCERITY    OF    HEART    AS    THE    FIRST    CONDITION  OF 

SERVICE  41 

SERMON  III. 

ENERGY  OF  CHRISTIAN  SERVICE  79 

SERMON  IV. 

THE  WINGS  OF  A  DOVE  Ut, 

SERMON  V. 

WORK  IN  THE  GROANI^'G  CREATION  I53 


SERMON  VI. 

THE  MENDING  AND  MARRING  OF  HUMAN  LIFE 


.  191 


xii 


CONTENTS. 


SERMON  VII. 

PACE 

LA.ST  LESSONS  FROM  THE  SIGH  OF  CHRIST  22$ 

SERMON  VIII. 

LEGISLA;rlVE  DUTIES  259 

SERMON  IX. 

THE  AIMS  OF  CHRISTIAN  STATESMANSHIP  287 

SERMON  X. 

MANV  FOLDS  :   ONE  FLOCK  315 


SERMON  I. 
WHY  JESUS  SIGHED: 

THE  SIGH  OF  PITY  A  STIMULUS   TO  ACTION. 


WHY  JESUS  SIGHED. 


Almighty  God,  who  hast  given  thine  only  Son  to  be  unto 
us  both  a  sacrifice  for  sin,  and  also  an  ensample  of  godly  life  ; 
give  us  grace  that  we  may  always  most  thankfully  receive  that 
His  inestimable  benefit,  and  also  daily  endeavour  ourselves 
to  follow  the  blessed  steps  of  His  most  holy  life,  through  the 
same  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  Amen. 


"  Pereant  commenta  philosophorum  qui  negant  in  sapientem 
cadere  perturbationes  animorum." — Aug.  hi  Joann.  xiii.  21. 


"  Sight  so  deform  what  heart  of  rock  could  long 
Dry-eyed  behold  ?    Adam  could  not,  but  wept. 
Though  not  of  woman  born  :  compassion  quell'd 
His  best  of  man,  and  gave  him  up  to  tears 
A  space,  till  firmer  thoughts  restrained  excess. 
And  scarce  recovering  words,  his  plaint  renew'd  : — 

'  O  miserable  Mankind,  to  what  fall 
Degraded,  to  what  wretched  state  reserv'd  ! '  " 

Milton,  Paradise  Lost,  xi.  494—510. 


"  Ahi  quanto  a  dir  quel  era  e  cosa  dura 
Questa  selva  selvaggia  ed  aspra  e  forte, 
Che  nel  peiisier  rinnova  la  paura  ! 
Tanto  e  amara,  che  poco  h  piu  morte." 

Dante,  Inferno,  i.  4—7. 


B  2 


SERMON  I. 


WHY  JESUS  SIGHED. 
Mark  vii.  34. 

"  And  looking  up  to  heaven.  He  sighed,  and  saith  ttnto  him, 
Ephphatha!  that  is,  'Be  opened.'"  » 

The  incident  to  which  this  verse  alludes 
happened  during  that  period  of  wandering — we 
might  almost  say  of  flight — in  foreign  and  half- 
heathen  countries,  which  was  forced  upon  our 

'  Ko!  orajSAe'^'aj  ei's  t^v  ovpavbv,  l(ST:iva\i,  KoX  \4yei  avTw, 
''Z<p<pa6a,,  S  eVri,  Amvotx^lTi. 

In  the  English  version  of  the  text  we  may  notice  (a)  that  a 
more  definite  sense  would  be  given  to  the  word  Siofoi'xfllTi  by 
rendering  it  "  Be  thou  opened."  The  miraculous  command 
seems  to  be  addressed  to  the  sufferer  himself,  whose  whole 
existence  is,  as  it  were,  closed  by  his  beint;  deaf  and  dumb. 
Further,  the  aorist  implies  that  the  result  was  instantaneous  ;  and 
the  compound  verb  that  it  was  complete. 

(B)  The  heavenward  glance  was  doubtless  a  glance  of  prayer 


6 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  i. 


Lord  by  the  hatred  and  jealousy  of  the  rehgious 
authorities  of  His  nation,  after  the  brief  year 

(John  xi.  41),  and  served  incidentally  to  refute  tho=e  who  attri- 
buted the  Lord's  miracles  to  evil  powers  (Matt.  ix.  34  ;  Mark  iii. 
22  ;  Luke  xi.  15),  which  was  a  favourite  slander  of  the  Pharisees. 

(7)  The  word  fVTcVafc  might  equally  well  be  rendered  "He 
groaned,"  as  the  same  verb  is  rendered  in  Rom.  viii.  23,  "even 
we  ourselves  groan  within  ourselves"  ;  2  Cor.  v.  2,  "for  in  thjs 
we  groan,"  and  verse  4.  In  Heb.  xiii.  17,  fvl)  anvaiovris  is  ren- 
dered "  not  with  grief; "  and  in  James  v.  9,  ^t?)  CT^vai^n  kut' 
d.K\i]\ii>v  is  rendered  "gnidge  not  one  against  another,"  with  the 
marginal  alternative  of  "  groan  "  or  "grieve  not."  There  is  no 
more  exact  word  in  Greek,  as  there  is  in  Latin,  to  differentiate 
a  sigh  from  a  groan.  In  the  LXX.  aTeva^w  is  u=ed  as  the 
rendering  for  various  Hebrew  verbs  implying  outward  expressions 
of  sadness. 

In  the  English  Version  "sighing"  and  "groaning"  are  alike 
used  as  renderings  of  the  Hebrew  dnach,  anachah  (e.g.  Job 
iii.  24,  "my  sighing;"  id.  xxiii.  2,  "my  groaning  ;"  Ps.  vii.  6, 
"  I  am  weary  with  my  groaning;"  Ps.  xxxi.  lo,  "my  years 
with  sighing,"  &c.).  The  substantive  crtvayy-is  is  rendered 
"groaning"  in  Acts  vii.  34,  Rom.  viii.  26.  The  words  rendered 
"  He  groaned  in  the  spirit,"  and  "  Jesus  therefore  again  groaning 
in  Himself,"  in  John  xi.  33,  38,  are  different.    See  n.  3,  p.  8. 

(5)  The  word  Ephphatha  is  variously  regarded  as  a  Greek 
transliteration  of  the  Aramaic  imperative  Hithpahel  of  Pdthcuh, 
"  he  opened,"  or  as  the  imperative  Niphal  of  that  verb.  (Comp. 
Is.  XXXV.  5,  "then  shall  the  ears  of  the  deaf  be  unstopped.") 

(e)  It  may  be  asked  why  the  Evangelist,, writing  for  Roman 
readers,  reproduces  the  Aramaic  word,  which  they  would  not 
understand,  as  he  does  also  in  v.  41,  Talilha  Cumi ;  x.  51, 


SKRM.  I.]  yESUS  SIGHED. 


of  His  acceptable  ministry  on  the  shores  oi 
Lake  Sennesareth.'  He  was  returning  to  Gah- 
lee,  apparently  by  devious  paths,  and  on  the 
lonelier  eastern  side  of  the  lake,  when  they 
brought  to  Him  a  poor  deaf  stammerer,  and 
besought  Him  to  put  His  hand  upon  him. 
Never  indifferent  to  the  appeal  of  sorrow, 
Jesus  led  the  poor  man  aside,  put  His  fingers 
into  his  ears,  spat,  and  touched  his  tongue, 
and  then  raising  His  eyes  to  Heaven  for 
one   brief  moment   of  silent   prayer  to  His 

Rabhoni  (in  the  Greek)  ;  xv.  34,  Eloi,  Eloi,  lama  sabachthani. 
The  answer  is,  tliat  these  are  introduced  because  they  had  made 
on  St.  Peter — who,  according  to  early  tradition,  furnished  these 
narratives  to  St.  Mark — an  impression  so  indehble  that  no 
other  words  seemed  adequate  to  give  it  force.  Incidentally 
they  are  valuable  as  bearing  on  the  question  of  the  language 
which  our  Lord  ordinarily  spoke. 

It  is  for  a  somewhat  different  season  that  St.  Mark  and  the 
other  Evangelists  so  freely  availed  themselves  of  many  other 
technical  terms  (Pharisees,  Sadducees,  Rabbi,  Corban,  Abba, 
Boanerges,  Gehenna,  &c.).  Tliey  used  them  because  no  one 
equivalent  word,  and  even  no  periphrasis,  would  have  ade- 
quately conveyed  their  exact  meaning,  and  it  was  better  to  give 
currency  to  an  unfamiliar  term  than  to  em;>Ioy  an  inadequate 
and  misleading  translation  of  it. 

'  Perhaps  I  may  be  allowed  to  refer,  by  way  of  eUicidation 
of  these  expressions,  to  my  Life  of  Christ,  i.  473  to  ii.  40. 


8 


EPHPHATHA. 


[SERM.  I. 


I-^eavenly  Father,  He  sighed  and  said  unto 
him,  "  Epkphatha  .' "  that  is,  "  Be  opened!" 

I.  This  is  not  the  only  record  of  the  sighs,  and 
tears,  and  troubled  heart  of  Jesus.  We  are  told  in 
the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  that  "  in  the  days  of 
His  flesh  He  offered  up  supplications,  with  strong 
crying  and  tears."'  We  read  in  the  next  chapter 
of  St.  Mark,  how,  when  He  was  met  by  the 
Pharisees  with  the  faithless  and  mocking  demand 
for  a  sign  from  heaven.  He  sighed  deeply  in  His 
spirit.  And  by  the  grave  of  Lazarus,  when  He 
saw  Mary  weeping,  and  the  Jews  also  weep- 
ing. He  "groaned  in  the  spirit,"  and  the  silenf 
tears  streamed  down  His  face.^   And  on  that  day 

'  Heb.  V.  7,  ixeTo.  Kpavyr/s  iaxvpas  Kal  SaKptiwy. 

'  Mark  viii.  12,  dyaa^Tma^as  T<p  irydiMrt  outoC. 

3  John  xi.  33»  ^*'e^pi)U^(7OT0  t^J  wevfxaTi,  ^/x^pifitifi^vos 
eV  eain^.  The  expressions  which  I  have  used  are  sufficiently 
supported  by  verse  35  (iSaKpv<Tey  0  'Itjo-ous,  which  means  that 
He  shed  silent  tears),  but  the  verb  in  verses  33  and  38  can 
hardly  mean  "groaned."  In  the  New  Testament  it  only 
occurs  elsewhere  in  Matt.  ii.  30,  Mark  i.  43,  where  it  is  rendered 
"straitly  charged,"  though  it  is  in  reality  more  emphatic.  A 
comparison  of  these  verses  with  Luke  v.  14,  seems  to  show 
that  the  meanin^j  involved  in  the  verb  is  "vehemently 
threatened "  ;  comp.  Ecclus.  xiii.  3.  In  the  Old  Testament 
the  verb  is  used  by  Symmachus  in  Is.  xvii.  13  (E.V.  "rebuke"), 


SERM.  I.]     WRY  yESUS  SIGHED. 


9 


of  humble  triumph  when  the  multitude  escorted 
Him  from  Bethany  to  Jerusalem  with  shouted 
Hosannas  and  waving  palms,  as  soon  as  He 
turned  the  shoulder  of  the  hill,  and  the  view  of 

and  the  noun  by  the  LXX.  in  Lam.  ii.  6  ;  and  wherever  it 
occurs  it  always  seems  to  imply  indignation  rather  than  grief. 
If  T<f  irvfiiiari  is  the  dative  of  the  object,  the  phrase  can  only 
express  an  act  of  strong  self-control  ("  He  sternly  charged  His 
spirit " — roused  His  spirit  to  the  conflict  with  Death).  If,  on 
the  other  hand,  T<f  irvevfiari  means  "in  spirit,"  as  in  xiii.  2r, 
then  the  expression  means  "  He  was  indignant  in  spirit"  ;  indig- 
nant at  the  want  of  faith  of  those  around  Him,  or  at  the  power- 
ful presentment  of  the  sin  and  sorrow  of  the  world  which  was 
forced  upon  His  notice  by  the  circumstances  of  the  moment. 
Some  have  supposed  that  the  remark  of  the  Jews  in  John  xi.  37 
was  a  sort  of  mocking  taunt.  This  would  indeed  account  for  His 
feeling  of  indignation;  but  the  Jews  seem  to  have  felt  a  genuine 
sympathy  with  the  weeping  sisters,  and  the  remark— which  was 
only  made  by  some  of  them — has  an  accent  of  sincerity. 

The  words  translated  "and  was  troubled"  are  literally  "and 
troubled  Himself."  This  certainly  does  not  mean  that  He  only 
allowed  Himself  a  certain  definite  amount  of  emotion  (ixerpiova- 
Beia  as  opposed  to  the  Stoic  apathy).  This  sense  is  attached  by 
St.  Cyril,  Euthymius,  and  Theophylact  to  the  previous  expres- 
sion (eVe/SpiyaTjo-ctTo  Tij!  jrceu'/naTi),  and  Theophylact  comments  on 
it  by  saying  that  hard  and  unsympathetic  tearlessness  is  monstrous 
(0ripiaS(s),  but  that  undue  indulgence  in  tears  and  lamentations  is 
effeminate  (yucaiKiSSes).  They  are  followed  by  Bengel,  who  says 
that,  at  this  point,  Jesus  sternly  checked  the  tears  which,  a  Utile 
later  He  allowed  to  flow.    In  the  Life  of  Christ,  ii.  169,  I  rejected 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm. 


the  city  burst  on  Him,  He  wept  aloud'  over  its 
hypocrisy  and  crime.  Truly  he  was  "a  man  of 
sorrows  and  acquainted  with  grief."  So,  to  some 
extent,  have  all  His  saints  and  children  been. 
"  Prosperity,"  as  has  been  justly  said,  "is 
consistent  with  intense  worldliness,  intense 
selfishness,  intense  hardness  of  heart,  while  the 
grander  features  of  human  character,  self- 
sacrifice,  disregard  of  pleasure,  patriotism, 
knowledge,  devotion  to  any  great  cause,  have  no 
tendency  to  bring  good  fortune.  The  wrongs, 
the  cruelties,  the  wretchedness  of  all  kinds  which 

the  analogous  explanation  of  "  He  troubled  Himself,"  for  that 
of  Euthymius  and  Meyer,  who  explain  it  of  a  physical  act — "a 
powerful  shudder  ran  through  Him"  (as  a  consequence,  Euthy- 
mius adds,  of  the  stern  repression  of  His  feelings).  On  careful 
reconsideration  of  the  passage  I  incline  to  the  view  that  it  im- 
plies the  voluntary  act  by  which  our  Lord  suffered  His  sympathy 
to  have  play  ;  yielded  Himself  to  the  deep  emotions  of  the  hour, 
and  suffered  those  emotions  to  express  themselves  by  outward 
signs.  [In  other  passages  we  find  the  more  ordinary  passive  xiii. 
21,  (TapaxSri  Tip  irpfvuari  ;  xii.  2J,  yvv  t)  i^ivxh  l^ov  TeropoKTOi.] 

'I  hus  the  two  phrases  together  imply  a  mixture  of  indignation 
and  grief  ;  the  indignation  stirred  by  close  contact  with  the 
workings  of  sin  and  death ;  the  grief  awakened  by  the  sight  of 
overwhelming  sorrow. 

'  Luke  xix.  14,  iKKavaiv,  ploravii  ;  (iw(j)V(Tiv,  J!evit. 


SERM.  I.]     IV//V  yESUS  SIGHED.  1 1 


for  ever  prevail  among  mankind,  his  own  short- 
comings, of  which  he  grows  ever  more  and  more 
conscious,  these  things  will  prevent  a  noble- 
minded  man  from  ever  being  particularly  light- 
hearted  ;  so  that  if  you  see  a  man  happy  as  the 
world  goes,  contented  with  himself,  and  con- 
tented with  what  is  around  him,  he  may  be 
decent  and  respectable,  but  the  highest  is  not  in 
him,  and  the  highest  will  not  come  out  of  him. "  » 
But  in  the  case  of  Jesus,  you  must  add  the 
mysterious  agony  of  Him  who  bore  the  vast 
burden,  not  of  individual  sins,  but  of  the  sins 
and  sorrows  of  all  mankind.^  You  must  not  in- 
deed suppose  that  our  blessed  Saviour  had  no 
bright  and  joyous  hours  on  earth,  or  that  the 
legend  is  true  which  says  that  men  had  seen 
Him  weep  often,  but  never  smile.^  I  believe  that 
in  those  long  quiet  earlier  years  which  "  breathed 
beneath  the  Syrian  blue"  in  Nazareth, — as  a 
child,  as  a  boy,  as  a  youth,  among  its  happy 

'  P'roude,  Short  Studies,  i.  p.  m. 
'  Matt.  viii.  17  ;  Is.  liii.  4 ;  I  Pet.  ii.  24. 
s  Letter  of  the  pseudo-Lentulus,  Hofmann,  Leben  Jesu,  p. 
291  ;  B.  H.  Cowper,  Apoc.  Gospels,  p.  221. 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm. 


children,  and  on  its  fresh  thyme-sprinkled  hills 
— He  drank  sweet  draughts  of  joy  and  sunlight. 
I  believe  that  in  His  words  of  gentle  and  almost 
playful  irony  to  Martha,  and  to  Philip,  and  to 
Peter,'  we  may  almost  see  the  heavenly  smile 
playing  upon  His  features ;  and  once  we  are 
expressly  told  not  only  that  He  "  was  glad,"  but 
that  He  "exulted"  in  spirit,  as  He  also  bade  His 
disciples  do.^  This  joy  of  Jesus, — deep  joy, 
though  noble  and  subdued — is  not  our  subject 
to-day,  but  I  touch  on  it  for  one  moment  only 
lest  any  of  you  should  take  a  false  view  of  the 
life  of  man,  or  fatally  imagine  that  in  this  world 
the  children  of  the  devil  have  a  monopoly  of 
happiness.  Happiness  } — they  have  none.  Guilty 
happiness .'  there  is  no  such  thing  Guilty 
pleasure  for  a  moment  there  is  ; — the  sweetness 

'  See  Luke  x.  40 ;  John  xiv.  9 ;  Matt.  xvii.  26,  and  Luther's 
remarks  on  the  latter  passage. 

=  Luke  X.  21,  ^7a\\ia<raTo  ■Kv^ifxari.  Matt.  v.  12,  xa'P^e 
(cal  a-yaXKiaaBi.  For  other  instances  in  which  the  word  occurs 
see  Luke  i.  47  ;  John  v.  35,  viii.  56  ;  Acts  ii.  26. 

3  "Crede  mihi  res  severaest  verum  gaudium." — Sen.  Ep.  xxiii. 
92.  "Cette  joie  dont  je  parle  est  .severe,  chaste,  serieuse,  soli- 
taire, et  incompatible." — BossuET,  Serm.  sur  la  Cireoncision. 


SERM.  I.]     IVBY  ysSUS  SIGHED. 


13 


of  the  cup  whose  draught  is  poison,  the  ghtter 
of  the  serpent  whose  bite  is  death.  Guilty 
mirth  there  is  ; — the  laughter  of  fools,  which  is 
as  the  crackling  of  thorns  under  a  pot.  But 
guilty  happiness  there  never  has  been  in  any 
life,  nor  ever  can  there  be.  True  happiness, 
happiness  in  the  midst  of  even  scorn  and  per- 
secution, happiness  even  in  the  felon's  prison 
and  in  the  martyr's  flame,  is  the  high  pre- 
rogative of  God's  saints  alone — of  God's  saints, 
and  therefore  assuredly,  even  in  His  earthly 
Hfe,  of  Him  the  King  of  Saints;  since  there 
is  in  misery  but  one  intolerable  sting,  the 
sting  of  iniquity,  and  He  had  none. 

2.  But  you  will  not  have  failed  to  notice  that 
on  two  of  the  occasions  on  which  we  are  told 
that  Jesus  sighed  and  wept,  He  was  immediately 
about  to  dispel  the  cause  of  the  misery.'  He 
was  about  to  heal  the  deaf.  Why  then  should 
He  have  sighed  He  was  about  to  raise  the 
dead.  Why  then  did  the  silent  tears  stream 
down  His  face  1 


'  Mark  vii.  34  ;  John  xi.  36. 


14 


EPHPHATHA.  [sf.rm. 


My  friends,  the  Lord  sighed  because  He  was 
not  thinking  only  of  the  individual  case.  Tliat 
He  had  power  to  remedy ;  but  how  many  myriads 
were  there  of  the  bereaved  whom  He  could  not 
then  console  ?  of  the  deaf  and  dumb  who  in  this 
world  could  never  hear  and  never  speak  ?  Even 
in  the  individual  cases  there  was,  to  His  quick 
sympathy,  cause  enough  to  sigh  for  the  wreck 
caused  by  the  sin  of  man  and  the  malice  of 
Satan,  in  deforming  the  beauty  of  God's  fair 
creation.  His  sigh  for  these  was  not  the  sigh  of 
Powerlessness — it  was  the  sigh  of  Sympathy.' 
But  more  than  this,  He  was  thinking  of  all  the 
world,  looking  down  to  the  very  depths  of  its 
drear  abyss  of  sorrow.  His  act  of  healing 
could  be  but  a  drop  in  the  ocean.  "  That  sigh," 
says  Luther,  "  was  not  drawn  from  Him  on 

'  At  the  same  time  we  should  bear  in  mind  that  the  sympathy 
of  our  Lord,  even  as  sympathy,  was  something  more  intense, 
something  more  deep  and  mysterious,  than  the  ordinary  sympathy 
of  which  we  are  capable.  In  some  unspeakable  manner  He 
bore,  as  though  it  were  His  own,  the  burden  of  our  griefs  and 
iniquities.  Is.  liii.  4;  Matt.  viii.  17  (fAc!)3«  .  .  .  eflacrToo-e)  ; 
John  i.  29  (iilfwv)  ;  I  Pet.  ii.  24  (auTij  h.vT\vtyKiv  .  .  .  M  rh 
iv\ov). 


SERM.  I.]     IFI^V  yESUS  SIGHED. 


15 


account  of  the  single  tongue  and  ears  of  this 
poor  man,  but  it  is  a  common  sigh  over  all 
tongues  and  ears,  yea  over  all  hearts,  bodies, 
and  souls,  and  over  all  men,  from  Adam  to  his 
last  descendant."'  The  doing  of  good  is  not 
a  work  of  unmixed  happiness,  for  good  men 
can  never  do  all  the  good  that  they  desire. 
"  We  can,  indeed,  only  have  the  highest  happi- 
ness, such  as  goes  along  with  being  a  great  man, 
by  having  wide  thoughts  and  much  feeling  for 
the  rest  of  the  world  as  well  as  for  ourselves  ; 
and  this  sort  of  happiness  often  brings  so  much 
pain  with  it,  that  we  can  only  tell  it  from  pain 
by  its  being  what  we  should  choose  before 
everything."  =  What  wonder  then  that  our 
Saviour,  even  in  the  act  of  healing,  heaved  the 
deep  sigh  of  sympathy 

'  So  too  St.  Chrysostom,  who  says  that  Jesus  sighed,  t^jv  tov 
avSptiirov  <piaty  iKcwy  els  Troiar  TaTrelvaitTii'  i^yayev  ravTr^v  *6  T€ 
IxiffdKoXos  Std$o\os  Ka\  tj  twv  irpwroirKdaToiv  airpodi^ta, — i.e, 
because  He  pitied  the  humiliation  to  which  our  human  nature 
lias  been  reduced  by  the  Devil,  who  hates  all  fairness,  and  by  the 
incontinence  of  our  first  parents. 

'  Rotnola. 


i6 


EPHPHATHA. 


[SERM.  I. 


"  O'erw  helming  thoughts  of  pain  and  grief 
Over  his  sinking  spirit  sweep ; 
What  boots  it  gathering  one  lost  leaf 
Out  of  yon  sere  and  withered  heap, 
Where  souls  and  bodies,  hopes  and  joys. 
All  that  earth  owns,  or  sin  destroys. 
Under  the  spuming  hoof  are  cast 
Or  tossing  in  the  autumnal  blast  ?  "  ' 

3.  My  friends,  there  was  in  truth  cause  enough, 
and  more  than  enough,  why  the  Lord  should 
sigh.  In  that  poor  afflicted  man  He  saw  but 
one  more  sign  of  that  vast  crack  and  flaw  which 
sin  causes  in  everything  which  God  has  made. 
When  God  had  finished  His  work,  He  saw  that 
it  was  very  good  ;  but  since  then  tares  have  been 
sown  amid  His  harvest ;  an  ahen  element  in- 
truded into  His  world  ;  a  jangling  discord  clashed 
into  His  musia  Earth  is  no  longer  Eden.  Look 
out  even  on  the  inanimate  creation  ;  its  storm, 
and  earthquake,  and  eclipse  ;  the  devastating 
fury  of  its  elements ;  the  pitiless  rush  of  its 
waters ;  the  deadly  pestilence  of  its  malaria  ; 
the  invisible  germs  of  corruption  which  im- 
pregnate its  waters  with  pollution  and  people 
'  KelJe,  "Twelfth  Sunday  after  Trinity." 


SERM.  I.]     PFHV  yESUS  SIGHED. 


17 


its  air  with  death : — these  surely  are  signs  of 
something  wrong  somewhere.  Or  look  at  the 
animal  world,  and  the  finish  and  frightfulness 
of  the  lethal  armour  with  which  it  is  provided, — 
the  shark's  teeth,  the  hornet's  sting,  the  tiger's 
claw,  the  serpent's  fang.  What  do  we  see  } 
Not  the  lion  lying  down  with  the  lamb,  or  the 
leopard  playing  with  the  kid  ;  but  the  bright 
creatures  bounding  through  the  forest  with 
hungry  rage,  and  the  dull  eye  of  the  snake 
in  the  dry  leaves.  Nay,  there  is  massacre  daily 
going  on,  daily  raging  among  the  blithe  birds 
of  the  air,  and  the  mute  fishes  of  the  sea.  The 
air,  the  field,  the  wave  are  one  vast  slaughter- 
house.' What  is  the  meaning  of  it  all,  but  this, — 
that  the  whole  creation  groaneth  and  travailcth 
in  pain  together  until  now?^   And  was  there  not 

'  "The  May-fly  is  torn  by  the  swallow,  the  swallow  speared 
by  the  shriUe, 

And  the  whole  little  wood  where  I  sit  is  a  world  of 
plunder  and  prey." — Tennyson. 

'  Rom.  viii.  22 — 25,  where  the  words  of  the  original  — 
avajiva^ti  «al  a\ivuih\.vu  &xp'  to5  vZv — are  very  powerful.  But 

C 


i8 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  i. 


enough  in  this  rapine  and  fury  to  make  Jesus 
look  up  to  Heaven  and  sigh  ? 

4.  And  alas,  it  is  not  only  the  unintelligent 
creation  which  groans  and  travails.  We  our- 
selves, which  have  the  firstfruits  of  the  Spirit, 
we  ourselves  also  groan  within  ourselves,  wait- 
ing for  the  adoption,  to  wit  the  redemption  of 
the  body.  We  are  apt  to  be  very  proud  of 
ourselves  and  of  our  marvellous  discoveries  and 
scientific  achievements  ;  but,  after  all,  what  a 
feeble  creature  is  man  !  what  a  little  breed  his 
race !  what  shadows  we  are,  and  what  shadows 
we  pursue  !  We  fade  as  the  grass,  and  are 
crushed  before  the  moth.  If  we  knew  no  more 
than  Nature  can  tell  us,  and  had  no  help  but 
what  Science  can  give  to  us,  what  sigh  would 
be  too  deep  for  beings  born  to  sorrow  as  the 
sparks  fly  upwards "  Man  that  is  born  of  a 
woman  hath  but  a  short  time  to  live,  and  is 
full  of  misery ; "  so  we  say  at  the  solemn 
truthful   moment    when  we  •  drop    the  body 

the  universal  groan  is  full  of  hopefulness,  for  it  is  repre,-entefl  as 
being  called  forth  by  the  travail-pangs  of  a  new  birth. 


SERM.  I.]     WHY  JESUS  SIGHED.  19 


into  the  grave,  and  man  is  full  of  misery 
indeed ! 

i.  Look,  for  instance,  at  the  world  of  disease 
and  pain.  You  need  not  go  far  to  look.  One 
house  will  suffice  you  to  see  the  wretchedness 
of  the  human  race. '  We  are  met  in  this  great 
Abbey  close  beside  the  Palaces  of  the  Legis- 
lature, and  on  one  side  of  us  is  Westminster 
Hospital,  and  on  the  other  St.  Thomas's  Hos- 
pital, as  though  to  bear  their  solemn  witness 
how  vast  is  the  task  before  us,  how  dread  is 
the  necessity  for  religion  and  for  government,  to 
battle  against  human  sin  and  human  pain.  Go 
into  either  of  these  great  hospitals,  and  what 
will  you  see  t  Oh,  what  varied  evidences  of 
human  anguish  !  On  that  bed  lies  a  strong 
workman,  crippled  for  life  by  an  accident,  and 
forgetting  his  own  pain  as  the  tears  rush  into 
his  eyes  to  think  of  his  worn  wife  and  starving 
little  ones.     That  little  child,  trained  on  gin, 

"  "  Humani  generis  mores  tibi  nosse  volenti, 
Sufficit  una  domus  ;  paucos  consume  dies  et 
Dicere  te  miserum,  postquam  illinc  veneris  aude." 

— Juv.  Sat.  xiii.  159. 
C  2 


20 


EPHPHA  THA .  [serm. 


and  screaming  for  every  bottle  which  it  thinks 
must  contain  gin,  is  dying  of  atrophy,  the  re- 
sult of  vile  neglect.  That  poor  half-witted  old 
woman  ends  here,  in  the  anguish  of  some  in- 
ward complaint,  her  harmless  life  of  unbroken 
struggle  with  affliction.  The  muttering  lips,  the 
clutching  hands  of  yonder  man  are  the  signs 
of  the  fell  disease  which  is  the  Nemesis  of 
drunkenness.  The  bones  of  that  other,  the 
victim  of  dissolute  courses,  are  full  of  the  sin 
of  his  youth,  which  shall  lie  down  with  him 
in  the  dust.  And  Jesus  had  seen  such  things. 
He  had  healed  the  impotent  man  at  Bethesda, 
and  the  frenzied  boy  at  Hermon,  and  the  poor 
wretch  who  was  deaf  and  dumb,  and  blind  and 
mad  at  Capernaum ;  and  the  ten  lejjers  at  En 
Gaunim  ;  and  had  seen — 

"  All  maladies 
Of  ghastly  spasm,  or  racking  torture,  qualms 
Of  heart-sick  agony,  all  feverous  kinds, 
Convulsions,  epilepsies,  fierce  catarrhs ;  " ' 

and  many  more  which  T  dare  not  dwell  upon, 

'  Milton,  Far.  Lost,  xi.  480. 


SERM.  I.]     WHY  JESUS  SIGHED.  21 


— and  can  you  wonder  that  He  looked  up  to 
heaven  and  sighed  ? 

ii.  We  have  been  glancing  at  some  of  the  con- 
ditions which  affect  the  physical  world  of  man; 
the  anguish  which,  in  one  form  or  another,  by 
sickness  or  by  accident,  seizes  ere  we  die  the 
poor  mortal  bodies  of  most  of  us  ;  but  ah  !  that 
is  not  the  worst.  In  the  terrible  picture  of  the 
"  Last  Judgment,"  by  Michael  Angelo,  in  the 
Sistine  Chapel  at  Rome, — where  the  great 
painter's  conception  of  Him  who  sighed  for 
human  sorrow,  is  an  awful  avenging  figure, 
with  hand  wrathfully  uplifted,  grasping  ten 
thousand  thunders,  and  hurling  down  men's 
souls  by  millions  into  the  abyss, — he  has 
painted  one  lost  spirit  who  is  being  dragged 
down  by  a  horrible  fiend.  This  fiend  has 
driven  his  fangs  into  the  flesh  of  the  doomed 
victim  ;  but  the  poor  wretch  is  wholly  uncon- 
scious of  the  agony  ;  he  is  looking  up  in  mental 
anguish,  thinking  only  of  the  lost  heaven.  Even 
so  it  is  that  the  sorrows  of  the  body  are  swal- 
lowed up  in  the  keener  anguish  of  the  soul. 


22 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  i. 


and  the  wounded  affection  aches  more  painfully 
than  the  throbbing  nerve.  Look,  then,  at  the 
world  of  man's  heart.  How  sweet  is  the  un- 
broken home ;  how  happy !  Ah,  but  of  what 
brittle  glass  is  this  our  home-happiness  made ! 
How  many  of  our  homes  are  unbroken  into 
how  many  has  the  silent  shadow  never  glided 
how  many  have  not  been  overshadowed  by  the 
icy  hand  }  Ye  who  have  reached  middle  age, 
has  not  your  path  in  life  been  marked  by  the 
gravestones  of  your  earlier  friends }  Has  the 
light  of  your  eyes  been  taken  from  none  af 
you  at  a  stroke  ?  Fathers,  have  none  of  you 
followed  to  the  tomb  the  dear  youth  who  should 
have  been  the  prop  of  your  old  age  ?  Mothers, 
have  you  never  seen  the  dust  strewn  on  the 
little  flower-like  face  }  Will  there  be  no  vacant 
chairs  this  Christmas  by  your  firesides  ?  Weep 
not ;  we  shall  go  to  them,  though  they  shall 
not  return  to  us.  "  Oh  Ibrahim,  Ibrahim,"  ex- 
claimed Mahomet — over  the  body  of  his  dead 
child — "  if  it  were  not  that  the  promise  is  faith- 
ful, and  the  hope  of  resurrection  sure  ;   if  it 


SERM.  I.]     WHY  JESUS  SIGHED.  23 


were  not  that  this  is  the  way  to  be  trodden 
by  all,  and  the  last  of  us  shall  join  the  first  ; 
I  would  grieve  for  thee  with  a  grief  deeper 
even  than  this,"  and  with  uncontrollable  sob- 
bings the  strong  man  put  the  little  body  back 
into  the  nurse's  arms.  "  I  am  torn  up  by  the 
roots  and  lie  prostrate  on  the  earth,"  wrote 
Edmund  Burke  on  the  loss  of  his  only  son.  "  I 
am  now  old,  feeble,  bent,  and  miserable,"  said 
Sir  William  Napier,  "and  my  eyes  are  dim, 
very  dim,  with  weeping  for  my  lost  child." 
—How  many  millions  of  the  nameless  have 
had  to  utter  the  same  bitter  wail ! 

But  this  has  been  going  on  for  ever,  and 
Jesus  had  seen  it  all.  He  had  seen,  laid  stark 
upon  the  bier,  the  widow's  only  son.  He  had 
seen  the  little  maid  of  Jairus  lying  pale  and 
cold.  He  had  seen  Mary  weeping  for  Lazarus 
dead.  And,  as  He  looked  out  upon  a  world 
of  death,  can  you  wonder,  I  ask  again,  if, 
looking  up  to  heaven,  He  sighed? 

iii.  For  even  this,  alas,  was  not  all,  and  not 
the  worst.    Sickness  may  be  cured  ;  and  pain 


24 


EPHPHA  THA.  [serm. 


assuaged  ;  and  Time  lays  his  healing  hand  on  the 
wounds  of  death.  And  again  sickness  may  be 
as  the  fire  purging  the  gold ;  and  when  we  think 
of  the  death  of  the  righteous,  we  hardly  dare  to 
wish  them  back  again.  In  all  these  things  there 
may  be  a  soul  of  goodness  in  things  evil. 
But  oh,  the  ravages  of  sin  !  there  is  mischief, 
and  unmingled  mischief,  there.  It  is  told  of 
Queen  Blanche  of  Navarre,  mother  of  St.  Louis 
of  France,  that  she  often  said  she  would  rather 
see  her  son  a  corpse  at  her  feet,  than  know  that 
he  had  committed  a  deadly  sin.  It  is  told  of 
another  sad  queen,  Queen  Marie  Antoinette  of 
France,  that  to  her  the  sorrow  which,  like 
Aaron's  rod,  swallowed  up  all  other  sorrows,  was 
to  know  what  vile  hands  would  have  the  train- 
ing of  her  princely  boy.'    But  is  that  sorrow  of 

■  "  This  fear  it  was— a  fear  like  this  I  have  often  thought — 
which  must  among  her  other  woes  have  been  the  Aaron-woe  that 
swallowed  up  all  the  rest  to  the  unhappy  Marie  Antoinette. 
This  must  have  been  the  sting  of  death  to  her  maternal  heart, 
the  grief  paramount,  the  crowning  grief,— the  thought,  namely, 
that  lier  royal  boy  would  not  be  dismissed  from  the  honours  of 
royalty  to  peace  and  humble  innocence  ;  but  that  his  fair  cheek 
would  be  ravaged  by  vice  as  well  as  by  sorrow  ;  tliat  he  would 


SERM.  I.]     WHY  JESUS  SFGHED.  25 


watching  the  degeneracy  of  a  bright  life,  the  cor- 
ruption of  an  innocent  spirit, — is  it  a  strange, 
abnormal  sorrow?  Has  no  parent  among  you 
had  to  send  a  child  to  start  for  life  in  some 
great  school,  or  in  some  great  city,  and  watched 
with  an  aching  heart  "  the  fine  gradations  of 
vice  or  intemperance  by  which  the  clear-browcd 
boy  has  grown  into  the  sullen,  troubled,  dissatis- 
fied youth  "  ?  Would  the  story  of  the  Prodigal 
have  touched  as  it  lias  touched  the  heart  of 
the  world  if  it  were  rare  ?  Does  the  world  offer 
at  this  moment  an  exhilarating  spectacle  ? 
Wars  costing  so  many  precious  lives  ;  sedition 
trying  to  rear  its  head  ;  reckless,  murderous 
conspiracies ;  widespread  distress ;  the  sinful- 
ness of  waste  ;  the  baseness  of  dishonesty ;  the 
adulteration  of  food  ;  selfish  luxury  ;  mad  greed 
of  gain  ;  houses  where,  because  of  bad  passion--', 
the  fires   of   hell   mix  with   the  hearth ;  the 

lie  tempted  into  brutal  orgies  and  every  mode  of  moral  pollution, 
until,  like  poor  Constance  with  her  young  Arthur,  but  for  a  sadder 
reason,  even  if  it  were  possible  that  the  royal  mother  should  see 
her  son  in  the  courts  of  heaven,  she  would  not  linow  again  one 
so  fearfully  transfigured."— De  Quincky,  Autobicg.  Sketches. 


26 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  i. 


reeling  army  of  drunkards ;  the  miserable 
victims  of  man's  most  degraded  selfishness 
doomed  by  thousands  to  loathly  lives  and 
loathlier  deaths;  rancours  in  the  political 
world,  rancours  yet  more  deadly  in  the  so- 
called  religious  world ;  slander,  and  lies,  and 
libels  never  more  infamously  rampant ;  the 
hearts  of  good  men  made  sad  which  God  hath 
not  made  sad  ;  men  hateful  and  hating  one 
another ; — is  it  altogether  a  glad  spectacle,  a 
happy  spectacle  ?  And  all  this  too  had  Jesus 
seen.  He  had  seen  the  petty  tyranny  of  the 
Herods.  He  had  seen  angry  and  unscrupulous 
religionists — hating  each  other  for  differences 
of  opinion,  dealing  in  plausible  disparage- 
ments and  base  insinuations,  scheming  and 
plotting  to  veil  deadly  hatreds  under  decent 
forms.  He  had  seen  Pharisees  raging  at 
Sadducees,  and  Sadducees  sneering  at  Phari- 
sees, and  both  alike  conspiring,  in  the  interests 
of  a  sham  religion,  to  murder  Him  ;  and  He 
had  seen  the  riot  of  the  prodigal,  and  the 
anguish   of  the   adulteress ;   and   the  shame 


SERM.  I.]     W/fV  yESUS  SIGHED. 


27 


of  the  publican  had  moved  his  compassion  ; 
and  the  tears  of  the  penitent  harlot  had  fallen 
on  His  feet. — And  once  more,  I  ask,  can  you 
wonder  if,  as  Jesus  thus  looked  on  the  world 
of  Sickness,  the  world  of  Death,  the  world  of 
Sin,  He  looked  up  to  Heaven,  and  sighed  ? 

5.  But  why,  my  brethren,  have  I  thus 
set  before  you  this  sad  picture  as  it  is  ?  Not, 
be  assured,  with  no  object,  although  I  think 
that  the  mere  recognition  of  such  facts  is 
most  needful  sometimes  for  our  callous  selfish- 
ness and  fastidious  sensibility.  It  is  good, 
it  is  right,  to  startle,  if  possible,  the  hard 
indifference  of  that  vulgar  English  comfort 
and  domesticity,  which  does  nothing,  and  gives 
so  shamefully  little,  for  the  sorrow  around  it. 
And  the  reason  why  it  is  right  and  useful  is 
because  there  is  a  remedy  for  many  of  those 
evils ;  and  the  sigh  for  all  the  misery  around 
us  is  but  the  passing  expression  of  a  sym- 
pathy which  may  find  instant  relief  in  bene- 
ficent action.  If  there  were  no  remedy  for 
any  of  these  things,  to  sigh  would  be  a  useless 


28 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm. 


sentimentality.  Scripture  has  nothing  but 
rough  scorn  for  mere  fantastic  melancholy. 
Human  sorrow  is  a  field  too  sacred  to  be 
abandoned  to  fine  people, 

"The  sluggard  Pity's  vision-weaving  tribe, 
Who  sigh  for  wretchedness,  yet  shun  the  wTetched, 
Nursing,  in  some  delicious  solitude, 
Their  slothful  loves  and  dainty  sympathies." 

No  !  if  Scripture  ever  forces  us,  amid  our  idle 
chorus,  to  pause  and  listen  to  the  sad  music  of 
humanity,  it  is  only  that  it  may  stir  us  up  the 
next  moment  as  with  a  trumpet-blast  to  active 
service.  In  one  sense,  indeed,  there  is  no 
remedy  against  these  disturbing  elements  in 
the  life  of  man  ;  no  armour  against  fate.  No 
toil  of  ours  can  make  of  this  world  a  safe  or 
perfect  place.  It  is  not  the  hand  of  man  that 
can  ever  wipe  all  tears  from  off  all  faces.  This 
fatal  flaw  in  the  world  that  now  is,  has  been 
recognised  by  the  earliest  ages  of  mankind.  It 
is  the  Tree  of  the  knowledge  of  evil  which 
casts  its  dark  shadow  even  in  the  Paradise 
of  God.     The    oldest   Epics  recognised  the 


SERM.  I.]     IVJIV  yESUS  SIGHED. 


29 


truth.  Achilles  cannot  be  quite  invulnerable 
in  the  Iliad,  nor  Siegfried  in  the  Nibeliuigen, 
nor  Balder  in  the  Eddas.  No  stately  pica- 
sure  house  will  exclude  the  gliding  phantoms. 
The  arrows  of  calamity  fly  in  ten  thousand 
different  directions,  and  the  air  is  full  of  them, 
and  they  wound  us  in  the  one  weak  place. 
Our  strength  must  fail.  Our  youth  must 
vanish  like  the  morning  dew.  Our  joys  must 
make  themselves  wings  and  fly  away.  Our 
intellect  must  grow  feebler,  our  mortal  powers 
decay,  our  dearest  die.  "  To  each  his  suffer- 
ing ;  all  are  men  condemned  alike  to  groan." 
But  what  is  the  lesson  1  Not  unmanly  com- 
plaining ;  not  idle  speculation  ;  not  the  selfish 
attempt  to  secure  ourselves  alone  ; — No  !  but 
help  ;  no !  but  sympathy.  Not  ignorant  of 
misery,  we  learn,  or  ought  to  learn,  to  help  the 
miserable.  Our  Lord  looked  up  to  Heaven 
indeed  and  sighed,  because  He  was  a  High 
Priest  who  can  be  touched  with  the  feeling 
of  our  infirmities  ;  but  the  sorrow  which  wrung 
that  sigh  from  Him  did  but  make  Him  more 


30 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  i. 


earnest  day  by  day  in  doing  good.  "  The  spirit 
of  the  Lord  is  upon  me,"  He  said,  "because  He 
hath  anointed  me  to  preach  the  gospel  to  the 
poor ;  He  has  sent  me  to  heal  the  broken- 
hearted, to  preach  deliverance  to  the  captives, 
and  recovering  of  sight  to  the  blind,  to  set  at 
liberty  them  that  are  bruised."  His  was  no 
feeble  sympathy,  but  an  active  ministration. 
"/  will,  be  thou  clean."  "Fear  not;  only  be- 
lieve." "  Take  up  thy  bed,  and  walk!'  "  Courage, 
daughter."  "  Go  in  peace."  "  Young  man,  arise'' 
"Little  maid,  arise."  "  Lazarus,  come  forth." 
"  Go,  atid  sin  no  more." — Such  were  the  arrows 
of  lightnings  which  He  was  ever  hurling  into 
the  mirky  air, — such  the  mighty  words  that 
expelled  the  demon  ;  that  cleansed  the  leper  ; 
that  nerved  the  paralytic ;  that  cheered  the 
trembling  woman  ;  that  gave  hope  to  the  de- 
spairing sinner ;  that  thrilled  into  the  awful 
gloom  of  death.  Think  of  that  Sabbath  even- 
ing at  Capernaum,  when,  as  the  sunset  dyed 
the  silver  lake,  the  people  came  to  Him, 
bringing  with  them  their  demoniacs  and  their 


SERM.  I.]     WHY  JESUS  SIGHED.  31 


diseased,  and  far  into  the  deepening  dusk, 
hushing  the  screams  of  madness,  laying  on 
each  tortured  sufferer  His  pure  and  heah'ng 
hand,  He  moved  among  them  ;  and,  though  the 
sighs  and  groans  of  all  that  collective  misery 
smote  so  sadly  upon  His  heart,  yet  "  He  bore 
our  griefs  and  carried  our  sorrows,"  longing 
only  to  heal,  and  save,  and  bless.  My 
brethren,  what  a  divine  example,  what  a 
stimulus,  what  an  encouragement,  have  we 
here !  Our  Lord  saw  all  the  sorrow ;  He 
did  not  ignore  it  ;  He  sighed  for  it ;  He  wept 
for  it ;  He  prayed  for  it ; — but  not  for  one 
moment  did  He  despair  of  it ; — nay.  He 
worked  to  lighten  it,  leaving  us  thereby,  as 
in  all  things,  an  ensample  that  we  should 
follow  His  steps. 

6.  And,  thank  God,  since  then,  some,  in  all 
ages,  have  followed  His  steps.  Some  who  seem 
born  to  it — great  souls,  like  Moses,  Samuel, 
Paul,  Francis  of  Assisi,  Xavier,  Howard — who 
from  the  first  choose  rather  to  suffer  afflic- 
tion with  the  people  of  God  than   enjoy  the 


32 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  i. 


riches  and  pleasures  of  Egypt ;  others,  who, 
like  many  of  the  Apostles,  and  philanthro- 
pists, and  missionaries,  are  called  from  the 
fisher's  net,  or  the  receipt  of  customs,  or  the 
shop,  or  the  workman's  stall,  and  who  obey  the 
calling.  Thank  God,  in  spite  of  all  the  cal- 
lousness that  does  not  help,  and  all  the  mean- 
ness which  will  not  give,  the  general  heart  of 
the  world  is,  I  do  think,  growing  more  tender. 
You  know  the  poem  about  that  "  woman  of  a 
thousand  summers  back,"  wife  to  the  grim  earl 
who  so  taxed  his  town  that  the  mothers  brought 
their  children,  clamouring,  "  If  we  pay,  we 
starve"  !• — how 

"  She  sought  her  lord  ....  She  told  him  of  their  tears, 
And  prayed  him,  '  If  they  pay  this  tax,  they  starve.' 
Whereat  he  stared,  replying,  half  amazed, 
'  You  would  not  let  your  little  finger  ache 
For  such  as  these?' — 'But  I  would  die,'  said  she. 
He  laugt'd,  and  swore  by  Peter  and  by  Paul  : 
Then  fiUip'd  at  the  diamond  in  her  ear  ; 
'  O  ay,  ay,  ay,  you  talk  ! ' — '  Alas  ! '  she  said, 
'  But  prove  me  what  it  is  I  would  not  do.' " 

Aye  and  many  (and  perhaps  especially  women) 
have  been  ready  gladly  to  sacrifice  everything 


SERM.  I.]     IVIfV  yESUS  SIGHED. 


33 


to  do  some  good  ;  to  heal,  were  it  ever  so  little 
of  the  world's  sorrow.  My  friends,  we  have 
just  lost  such  a  one  among  us  here.  Mary 
Stanley  was  one  who  delighted  to  spend  and 
be  spent  in  the  service  of  others.  In  the  days 
of  the  Crimean  War  she  was  one  of  that  de- 
voted band  of  ladies  who — not  afraid  of  fever 
or  hardship,  braving  the  black  Euxine  and  the 
bitter  cold — went  to  nurse  the  sick  soldiers  in 
the  hospital  at  Koulalee.  But  even  from  her 
early  youth  she  had  devoted  herself  to  teach 
the  children  of  the  poor,  and  the  efforts  of  her 
later  days  to  feed  the  hungry,  and  warm  the 
shivering,  and  clothe  the  naked,  and  brighten 
squalid  cellars  and  garrets  with  the  poetry 
of  God's  flowers,  will  long  be  remembered. 
And,  my  friends,  the  kindly  deeds  of  this  life, 
of  every  life  which  has  trodden  in  the  warm 
footsteps  of  our  Saviour  through  this  world's 
dinted  snow,  have  had  their  mainspring  in  that 
sympathy  which  was  expressed  by  the  sigh  of 
Jesus.  We  cannot  all  do  as  He  did  in  the 
brief  years  of  His  Ministry, — "go  about  doing 

D 


34 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  i. 


good"  ;  but  we  can  all  live  as  He  lived  for  His 
first  thirty  years  of  quiet,  holy,  strenuous  duty, 
deliberately  striving  each  day  to  be  good  ;  de- 
liberately striving  each  day  to  do  good  ;  deli- 
berately striving  each  day  to  abstain  from  evil, 
in  order,  so  far  as  in  us  lies,  in  His  name,  and 
for  His  sake,  to  assuage  the  sorrows  of  the 
world. 

7.  Do  yon  ask  me  how  ?  If  you  ask  me, 
you  can  hardly  be  in  earnest.  It  is  like  the 
lawyer's  question,  "Who  is  my  neighbour.'" 
Solvitur  ambidando.  Your  question  will  answer 
itself  by  action.  They  who  are  resolutely  in 
earnest  to  do  good  do  not  go  about  asking, 
"  What  good  can  I  do  "  they  do  it ;  they 
hardly  think  of  it  as  good  ;  they  say  "  Lord, 
when  did  we  comfort,  when  did  we  visit,  when 
did  we  feed  or  clothe  Thee } "  Why,  even  a 
little  child  at  home,  even  a  young  boy  at 
school,  can  do  the  work  of  Jesus,  and  for 
Jesus.  The  little  child  can  make  home  brighter 
by  sweet  obedience  and  glad  unselfishness  ; 
the  young  boy  can  make  school  nobler  by  pure 


sERM.  I.]     IVBV  JESUS  SIGHED. 


words  and  faithful  deeds.  Ah,  you  cannot  do  it, 
if  you  too  do  not  feel  for  all  the  sadness  round 
you ;  you  cannot  do  it  if,  in  greed,  or  lust,  or 
selfishness,  you  are  adding  to  that  misery.  You 
cannot  make  men's  temptation  less,  if  all  your 
life  long  you  are  swelling  the  sum  of  them.  You 
are  a  mere  hypocrite  if  you  pretend  to  sigh  for 
human  sin  or  human  sorrow,  while  you  are 
ruining  souls  by  your  impurity,  or  defrauding 
them  for  your  gain.  Of  some  ways  in  which 
we  can  show  our  share  in  the  sympathy  of 
our  Saviour,  I  may  speak  hereafter ;  but  ah ! 
if  you  be  sincere,  do  not  wait  to  have  your 
philanthropy  furbished  up  with  appeals  for 
Christmas  charities,  but  go  out  and  be  kind, 
try  to  do  good,  try  to  make  the  world  hap- 
pier at  once  : — begin  at  once,  and  begin  at  the 
very  lowest  step. 

i.  There  is  the  animal  world,  for  instance.  A 
mystery  it  is,  a  mystery  it  will  ever  be.  Yet 
there  too  we  have  our  work  for  Jesus.  We 
have  abused,  alas,  too  often  to  purposes  of 
cruelty  and  tyranny  the    empire  which  God 


36 


EPHPHATHA. 


[SERM.  1. 


granted  us  over  the  brutes.  It  is  sad  that 
man  has  thus  made  even  the  most  beautiful 
and  innocent  part  of  the  animal  creation  shun, 
and  hate,  and  fear  him.  It  is  not  naturally  so. 
In  the  wilderness  Jesus  was  with  the  wild  beasts, 
and  they  harmed  Him  not.  The  timid  things 
of  the  wilderness  learnt  to  trust  the  ancient 
herm'ts.  In  desert  islands  the  denizens  of  the 
forest  and  the  fell  shrink  not  from  man  until 
he  has  shown  them  his  deadliness  and  treachery. 
The  birds,  it  is  said,  and  I  can  well  believe  it, 
fluttered  without  fear  about  St.  Francis  of 
Assisi.  For  Jesus'  sake  we  have  a  plain  duty 
to  the  dumb  animals,  to  be  considerate  to  them, 
to  be  gentle  with  them,  to  discourage  and  to 
abhor  all  needless  cruelty  towards  them,  to 
teach  our  boys  and  our  ignorant  men  to  be 
kind  to  them,  to  determine 

"Never  to  mix  our  pleasure  or  our  pride 
With  sorrow  of  the  meanest  thing  that  feels." 

We  might  learn  in  this  respect  even  from  those 
who  had  not  heard  the  divine  lessons  of  the 
Sermon    on   the   Mount.     "  A  calf  destined 


SERM.  I.]      JVHV  yESUS  SIGHED. 


37 


for  sacrifice,"  we  are  told  in  the  Talmud,  put 
its  head,  moaning,  into  the  lap  of  Rabbi 
Judah  the  Holy,  and  he  repelled  it  with  the 
remark,  "Go  hence  ;  for  this  thou  wast  created." 
"  Lo ! "  said  the  Angels,  "  he  is  pitiless  ;  let 
affliction  come  upon  him."  Again,  one  day 
it  happened  that,  in  sweeping  the  room,  his 
maidservant  disturbed  some  young  kittens. 
"  Leave  them  alone,"  said  Rabbi,'  "  for  it  is 
written,  '  His  tender  mercies  are  over  all  His 
works.'  "  Then  said  the  Angels,  "  Let  us  have 
pity  on  him  ;  for  lo  !  he  has  learnt  pity.  "3  And 
how  exquisite  is  the  story  which  tells  us  that 
when  Moses  was  a  shepherd  in  Midian  a  little 
lamb  left  the  flock  and  went  frisking  into  the 
wilderness  ;  and  Moses  followed  it  over  rocks 
and  through  briers  till  he  had  recovered  it,  and 
then  laying  it  in  his  bosom  he  said,  "Little 

'  Rabi  Judah  Hakkodesh,  the  compiler  of  tlie  Mishna,  is 
called  "  Rabbi  "  par  excellence. 
'  P.s.  cxlv.  9. 

3  Bava  Metzia,  f.  85.  I.  Tn  the  original  it  is  not  "the  Angels," 
but  the  indefinite  "they"  ("They  said,"  Comp.  Luke 

xii.  20  (Greek)  and  xvi.  9. 


38 


EPHPHA  THA. 


[SERM 


lamb,  thou  knowest  not  what  is  good  for  thee  ; 
trust  me,  thy  shepherd,  and  I  will  guide  thee 
right."  And  when  God  saw  his  tenderness  to 
the  straying  lamb.  He  said,  "  Thou  shalt  be  the 
shepherd  of  my  people  Israel."  Might  not  the 
old  Rabbis  teach  us  the  lesson  so  exquisitely 
taught  us  by  our  own  poet  in  the  Ancient 
Mariner,  that 

"  He  prayeth  well  who  loveth  well 
Both  man,  and  bird,  and  beast. 

He  prayeth  best  who  loveth  best 
All  things,  both  great  and  small. 

For  the  dear  God  who  loveth  us 
He  made  and  loveth  all."  ' 

ii.  And  there  is  the  world  of  sickness  and 
pain ; — but  how  infinitely  is  it  alleviated  by 
human  care,  by  human  skill,  by  human  sym- 
pathy, because  everywhere,  like  white-winged 

'  We  are  sometimes  apt  to  flatter  ourselves  that  such  senti- 
ments as  those  illustrated  by  the  Ancient  Manner  and 
Wordsworth's  Heart-leap  Well  are  peculiarly  modem  ;  but 
the  Jews  (e.g.  Abarbanel)  found  them  in  many  parts  of  the 
Pentateuch  (e.g.  Ex.  xxiii.  4,  Lev.  xxii.  28,  Deut.  xxv.  4, 
xxii.  10,  V.  14),  and  especially  in  the  thrice-repeated  command, 
"Thou  shalt  not  seethe  a  kid  in  its  mother's  milk"  (Ex.  xxiiL 
19,  xxxiv.  26,  Deut.  xiv.  21). 


SERM.  I.]      WHY  JESUS  SIGHED.  39 


ministers  of  mercy,  the  children  of  God  move  in 
and  out  in  the  midst  of  it,  heahng  its  ravages, 
smoothing  the  sleepless  pillow,  cooling  the 
fevered  brow,  shining  down  upon  the  suffering 
with  looks  and  smiles  which  are  a  healing  in 
themselves.  And  we,  if  we  cannot  do  all  this, 
if  we  are  not  good  enough  to  do  it,  not  gifted 
enough  to  do  it, — too  cold,  too  vulgar,  too 
grasping,  too  impure  to  do  it,  —  yet  we  can 
help  those  who  are  doing  it,  and  love  to  do 
it,  and  we  can  help  at  least  by  our  poor  gifts 
to  render  their  efforts  possible. 

iii.  And  there  is  the  world  of  sorrow  ;  and 
though  it  must  continue  while  time  lasts,  there 
is  not  one  of  us  who  cannot  help  to  make  it 
less  sorrowful.  We  can  do  so  passively  by  ab- 
staining from  all  churlish  deeds  and  all  false 
and  cruel  words.  We  can  do  so  actively  by 
the  constant  endeavour  to  cultivate  every  gentle 
and  kindly  feeling,  to  rejoice  with  them  that  do 
rejoice,  and  weep  with  them  that  weep. 

We  can  do  so  both  actively  and  passively  by 
the  strenuous  determination  to  be  kind  to  many, 


E  PHP  HA  Til  A.  [s  ERM. 


to  wish  to  be  kind  to  all,  willingly  to  do  injury 
to  none.  "  Be  ye  kind  one  to  another,  tender- 
hearted, forgiving  one  another,  even  as  God  in 
Christ  forgave  you."  ■ 

Begin  with  this ;  of  more  we  may  speak 
another  day,  but  begin  with  this.  This  we 
can  all  do.  All  this  let  us  do,  and,  if  often 
in  doing  it,  we  shall  have  to  sigh  as  Jesus 
sighed,  we  shall  find  that,  however  the  world 
may  treat  us.  He  will  also  grant  to  us  to 
become  "partakers  of  His  vision  and  His 
Sabbath,"  to  share  in  the  infinitude  of  His 
peacefulness,  to  enter  into  His  boundless  joy. 

'  i  06^5  iv  XpiffT^  ixapicraTo  vfuv.  The  rendering  of  the 
English  version — "/or  Christ's  sake  " — is  here  quite  inde- 
fensible.   Comp.  2  Cor.  v,  19. 


SERMON  II 
SINCERITY  OF  HEART. 

CONDITION  OF  TRUE  SERVICE  FOR 
AMELIORATION   OF  THE  WORLD. 


"  Nemo  malus  felix."— Juv.  Sat.  iv.  7. 


SINCERITY  OF  HEART  AS  THE  FIRST 
CONDITION  OF  SERVICE. 


"My  beloved  are  sinking  in  the  sea,  and  thou  art  making 
long  prayers,"  said  the  Holy  One— blessed  be  He — to  Moses. 
"What  then  shall  I  do?"  he  asked.  The  Lord  said  unto 
Moses,  "Speak  unto  the  children  of  Israel  that  they  go 
forward  (Ex.  xiv.  15)."— Sotah,  /.  37,  i. 


TTpAlic  eniBACic  OecopiAC,  Greg.  Naz. 


I^YNeprOYNTec  Ae,  2  Cor.  vi.  i. 


OeOY  r^P  eCMGN  cyNCprOI,  I  Cor.  iii.  g. 


TOY  KyPlOY  CyNeprOYNTOC,  Mark  xvi.  20. 


Almighty  and  merciful  God,  of  whose  only  gift  it  cometh  that 
Thy  faithful  people  do  unto  Thee  true  and  laudable  service, 
grant,  we  beseech  Thee,  that  we  m.-iy  so  faithfully  serve  Thee  in 
this  life  that  we  fail  not  finally  to  attain  Thy  heavenly  promises, 
through  the  merits  of  Jesus  Christ  oui"  Lord.  Amen. 


I 

1 


SERMON  II. 


SINCERITY  OF  HEART  AS  THE  FIRST 
CONDITION  OF  SERVICE. 

Luke  xxii.  32. 
And  when  thou  art  converted,  strengthen  thy  brethren.'"  ' 

We  spoke,  my  friends,  last  Sunday  of  the  sigh 
of  Jesus  before  He  healed  the  blind  man  and 
said  Ephphatha,  "  Be  opened."  We  saw  that  it 
was  a  sigh  heaved  over  the  miseries  of  a  world 
in  ruins.  We  forced  ourselves  to  notice  the 
truth  that  there  is  a  deep  crack  and  flaw  in 

'  A  more  literal  rendering  would  be  "when  once  thou  hast 
turned  again."  Some  commentators  make  the  word  lindTfit-i^as 
little  more  than  an  expletive  (comp.  Ps.  Ixxxiv.  6  ;  Acts  vii.  42), 
"thou  in  thy  turn  "  (vicissim).  But  the  English  version  is  cor- 
rect. The  word  is  here  used  intransitively,  as  in  Matt.  xiii.  15 
(in  its  physical  fense),  and  in  Acts  xvi.  18,  Rev.  i.  12;  it  is 
tised  transitively  in  Luke  i.  16,  Acts  xxvii.  18,  James  v.  19. 


46 


EPHFHATHA.  [serm.  u, 


this  material  universe  ;  that  in  the  unintelligent 
creation,  in  the  animal  kingdom,  in  the  world 
of  man,  there  has  occurred  some  terrible  disaster 
and  convulsion,  of  which  the  effects  are  not 
wholly  by  us  remediable  ;  but  of  which  we 
hope  that  the  traces  will  be  finally  obliterated 
at  the  restitution  of  all  things,'  and  of  which, 
by  a  mystery  which  we  cannot  understand, 
the  amelioration  is  left  in  large  measure  in 
the  hands  of  man.  On  the  possibilities  and 
methods  of  that  amelioration  wc  did  but  touch, 
because  my  object  then  was  simply  to  bring 
before  you  a  fact  which,  from  the  equable 
pressure  of  its  universal  incidence,  we  are 
often  content  to  ignore,  or  which,  to  the  best 
of  our  power,  we  energetically  strive  to  avert 
from  ourselves,  while  with  fatal  selfishness  we 
acquiesce  in  it  for  others.  But  if  this  preva- 
lence of  evil  be  the  most  awful  fact  of  human 
life,  it  is  one  which  we  should  keep  constantly 
before  us,  not  as  a  cause  of  depression,  still 

'  "Axp*  XP^"''"  "ifoicoTao-Too-eais  travTai',  Acts  iii.  21  ;  4v 
iTttXiyyevea-tif,  Matt.  xix.  28. 


SERM.  n.]    SINCERITY  OF  HEART. 


47 


less  as  an  excuse  for  inaction  and  despair,  but  as 
a  stimulus  to  self-denying  duty,  and  as  an  exercise 
of  noble  faith.  We  saw  that  not  once  or  twice 
only  in  this  life  our  Saviour  sighed,  and  wept/ 
and  groaned  deeply  in  spirit.  And  how  could 
He  do  otherwise  than  sigh,  as  He  looked  upon 
the  planks  and  broken  fragments  and  shattered 
hulks  which  strew  the  tossing  sea  of  life,  and 
which  tell  of  the  utter  shipwreck  of  so  many 
gallant  barques  ?  Yet  His  was  no  sigh  of 
idle  and  useless  pity.  It  was  no  mere  sign 
that  He  too  suffered  with  those  whom  He  saw 
suffer.  He  did  not,  as  St.  Augustine  says, 
merely  stand  upon  the  shore,  while  we  are 
toiling  amid  the  troubled  waves  ;  nay,  but  He 
came  to  us  walking  across  the  stormy  waters  ; 
He  entered  into  our  tossing  ship,  and  calmed 
the  tempest,  and  brought  us  to  the  haven 
where  we  would  be.'  He  sighed,  but  it  was 
only  as  He  trod  the  hard  path  of  our  deliver- 
ance ;  only  as  pertransivit  benefaciendo,  "  He 
passed  through  the  world  doing  good."  IVe 

■  Johnvi.  21. 


48 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  ii. 


may  sigh  too  ;  we  can  hardly  choose  but  sigh 
at  times  ;  and,  if  the  sigh  be  noble  and  sincere, 
then 

"  Never  a  sigh  of  passion  or  of  pity, 

Never  a  wail  of  weakness  or  of  wrong, 
Hath  not  its  archive  in  the  angel  city. 
Wakes  not  its  echo  in  the  angel  song." 

But  the  sigh  should  be  as  it  were  but  the 
transient  safety-valve  of  some  exceptional 
emotion  ;  whereas  the  active  kindness,  the 
efficient  energy,  should  be  the  solemn  and 
sacred  work  of  life.  Alas !  my  friends,  we 
can  do  but  little.  Our  faculties  are  very 
limited,  very  partial.  The  gifts  of  even  the 
most  gifted  of  us  are  few  and  one-sided. 
Even  when  we  are  most  wisliing  and  trying 
to  be  faithful,  we  are  at  the  best  but  un- 
profitable servants.'  Our  achievements  lag 
perpetually  far  behind  our  ideal ;  and  the 
hinder  wheel  can  as  little  overtake  the  fore 

'  Luke  xvii.  lo,  (xxp«'<»,  "insufficient,"  "  unmeritorious " 
(Rom.  iii.  12) ;  "inutiles,  insufficientes  quia  nemo  tantum  timet, 
tantum  diligit,  tantum  credit  Deo,  quantum  oportet." — AUG. 
Conf. 


SERM.  II.]   SINCERITY  OF  HEART. 


49 


wheel  of  a  chariot,  as  our  endeavours  can 
overtake  our  sense  of  duty.'  But  yet  on  the 
one  hand  the  fact  is  clear,  that  this  world  is 
very  sinful  and  very  sorrowful  ;  and  the  duty 
is  clear — "Strive  to  make  it  better;"  and  the 
command  is  clear — "  Take  thou  thy  individual 
share  in  this  work  of  healing ; "  and  the  indi- 
vidual promise  is  clear — "  Not  a  cup  of  cold 
water  given  in  Christ's  name  to  Christ's  Httle 
ones  shall  miss  of  its  reward  ; "  and  the 
universal  fidfilment  of  the  promise  is  clear — ■ 
that  God  has  ever  blessed  with  fruitfulness 
the  honest  labour  of  those  who  have  laboured 
in  His  cause.  And  so  in  all  hours  of  de- 
spondency, of  self-reproach,  of  failing  power,  of 
efforts  miserably  unsuccessful,  of  means  obvi- 
ously disproportionate,  of  opposition  apparently 
overwhelming,  the  whisper  comes  to  us,  Duties 
are  thine  ;  results  are  God's.  See  only  that 
thine  intent  be  good  and  pure,  and  the  event 

■  "  Nam  quamvis  prope  te,  quamvis  teaione  sub  uno 
Vertentem  sese,  frustra  fectabere  canthum 
Cum  rota  posterior  curras  et  in  axe  secundo." 

— Pers.  Sat.  V.  70-72. 
E 


50 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  ii. 


thou  mayest  safely  leave  in  the  hands  of 
God. 

This  then  is  the  only  thing  which  every  Chris- 
tian, every  good  man,  has  to  bear  in  mind — that 
he  ought  to  "  deal  courageously,  and  then  the 
Lord  shall  be  with  the  good."  '  God  gives  thee 
the  high  privilege  of  being  a  fellow  labourer  with 
Him.*  Do  not  be  troubled  if,  in  spite  of  all 
that  thou  triest  to  do,  the  times  are  out  of  joint, 
and  things  go  wrong,  and  thou  seemest  to  do 
no  good.  God  made  the  world,  not  thou.  He 
has  patience  ;  shouldest  not  thou  have  patience 
Even  thy  poor  good  deeds  cannot  die.  If  they 
seem  at  first  to  yield  no  fruit,  they  shall  still  be 
as  seeds  shut  up  in  the  darkness  of  a  sepulchre, 
and  when  they  are  taken  from  the  dead  hand  of 
time,  years  afterwards,  it  may  be,  they  shall  rise 
in  golden  grain.  Be  it  little,  be  it  much,  God 
will  accept  thy  honest  offering.  Better  than  the 
holocausts  of  the  wicked  shall  be  the  fragment 
of  bread  given  to  the  world's  hunger,  or  the 
grain  of  salt  flung  into  its  corruption.    For — 

'  2  Cor.  vi.  I.  '2  Chron.  xix.  H. 


SERM.  II.]  SINCERITY  OF  HEART.  5  I 


"  God  doth  not  need 
Either  our  work,  or  His  own  gifts ;  who  best 
Bear  His  mild  yoke,  they  serve  Him  best.   His  state 
Is  kingly ;  thousands  at  His  bidding  speed. 
And  post  o'er  land  and  ocean  without  rest ; 
They  also  serve  who  only  stand  and  wait." 

In  this  world  of  sin  and  sorrow  then  we 
have  work  to  do,  and  the  question  is,  What  work, 
and  how  can  we  do  it  1  Let  us  take  this  after- 
noon the  World  of  Sin,  and  plainly,  practically, 
with  earnest  consideration,  above  all  asking 
the  blessing  of  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God,  let  us 
consider  whether  we  can  do  anything  ;  and  what 
we  can,  what  we  ought  to  do.  On  all  sides  of 
us  we  see  life  blighted  and  ruined  by  human 
passions,  which  sweep  over  it  like  flame  over  a 
dry  heath,  and  leave  it  black  and  scarred  behind 
them.  The  sorrows  of  the  world  are  in  the  main 
the  heritage  of  its  sins,  and  these  bitter  fruits  of 
sin  have  their  bitter  roots  in  selfishness.  We  can 
do  nothing  till  we  have  clearly  recognised  the 
conditions  which  we  have  to  facp.  Only  look 
then  with  me  at  the  plain  facts  which  are  so  pal- 
pable to  every  clear  vision  in  the  world  around  us 

E  2 


52 


EPHPHATHA.  [skrm.  ti. 


I.  Look,  for  instance,  at  Intemperance. 
Merely  draw  the  circle  of  a  far  bowshot  round 
this  Abbey,  and  I  could  take  you  to  house  after 
house,  and  tell  you  of  tragedy  after  tragedy, 
from  this  cause  alone.  Every  case  to  which  I 
allude  shall  be  an  actual,  not  an  imaginary  case 
— a  case  wh'ch  I  have  personally  visited,  not  one 
of  which  I  have  merely  heard.  In  this  house 
— if  these  wretched  and  filthy  tenements  can  be 
called  houses — is  a  miserable  mother  wounded 
by  the  drunken  assault  of  her  own  son. 
There  is  a  husband  who  has  been  imprisoned 
for  brutality  to  his  own  wife.  There  a  poor 
honest  woman  whose  husband  felled  her 
to  the  earth  when  she  came  to  entreat  him 
not  to  waste  his  scant  earnings  in  the  reek- 
ing gin-shop.  There  a  young  woman  only 
snatched  from  suicide  to  plunge  into  fresh 
excesses,  almost  as  soon  as  her  life  had  been 
restored.  Here  a  young  man  the  curse  and 
shame  of  all  his  family.  There  a  poor  lone 
woman  frightened  into  imbecility  by  a  drunken 
lodger.    There  a  family  starved  and  shivering, 


SERM.  II.]    SINCERITY  OF  HEART. 


53 


while  week  by  week  the  man  squanders  his 
wages  in  tipsy  riot  over  the  bar  of  tlie  public 
house.  I  tell  you  that  within  a  bowshot  of 
this  Abbey  I  could  take  you  to  these  sufferers, 
and  show  you  many,  many  more.  There  are 
crowded  streets  in  which  I  have  known  such 
cases  in  almost  every  house.  And  however 
much  you  may  try  to  persuade  yourselves,  and 
let  others  persuade  you,  that  intemperance  is 
not  the  deadly  curse  of  England,  you  know  in 
your  hearts  as  well  as  I  do — or  with  the  smallest 
possible  expenditure  of  trouble  in  examining 
the  evidence  you  may  know — that  all  this,  and 
much  more  than  this,  comes  from  the  multiplied 
and  unrestricted  sale  of  that  which,  to  myriads 
of  a  vitiated  population,  acts  as  a  strong  poison 
and  a  besetting  curse.  And  now  extend  the 
circle  ;  multiply  these  miseries  of  one  single 
parish  ten  thousand  fold  ;  let  them  be  spread 
over  colonies  and  continents  in  widening  zones 
of  ruin  and  temptation ;  and  there  you  have 
one  phase  of  the  work  of  one  deadly  evil  spirit 
in  England  and  in  the  world.    And  the  voice 


54 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  ii. 


of  God  says  to  us,  says  to  thee — Is  it  nothing 
to  you,  all  ye  that  pass  by  ? 

2.  Or  look  at  Impurity.  It  is  a  subject 
which  must  be  lightly  handled,  for  in  its  very 
name  is  contamination,  and  there  is  pestilence 
in  its  most  distant  breath.  A  young  man,  in 
the  degraded  impulse  of  passions, — which,  when 
uncontrolled,  debase  man  not  only  to  the  level, 
but  below  the  level  of  the  beasts  that  perish, — 
wrongs  the  faith,  or  betrays  the  weakness  which 
trusted  him.  It  is  his  pleasure  ;  and  what  comes 
of  his  infamous  pleasure  thus  recklessly  and 
selfishly  indulged }  For  him,  if  he  repent, 
agonies  of  shame ;  and  burdens  of  remorse ; 
and,  it  may  be,  years  of  guilty  consequence  : 
if  he  repent  not,  and  if — which  is  far  worse 
for  him — he  seems  to  go  unpunished,  a  callous 
heart,  and  a  fearful  looking  for,  and  a  curse 
watching  his  life  with  hungry  eyes,  and  finally 
that  certain  retribution  which  comes,  and  must 
come,  now  or  hereafter,  on  all  unrepented  sin. 
That  is  the  result  for  him.  And  what  for 
the  victim  of  his  crime      For  her,  a  blighted 


SERM.  11.]  SINCERITY  OF  HEART. 


life,  a  ruined  home,  a  seared  heart,  the  anguish 
of  those  who  loved  her,  the  beginning  it  may 
be  of  such  shame  as — so  far  at  any  rate  as 
this  world  is  concerned — had  made  it  better 
for  her  if  she  had  not  been  born.  That  is 
one  form  of  impurity  ;  one  only  of  its  many 
forms.  Multiply  it  by  millions,  with  all  its 
resultant  horrors  of  loathly  sickness  ;  of  ruined 
intellect  ;  of  sapped  strength  ;  of  hidden  shame  ; 
of  homes  made  like  hell  ;  of  minds  smouldering 
with  the  inward  torture  of  unhallowed  fire  ;  of 
lives  whose  root  is  as  rottenness,  and  their 
blossom  is  gone  up  as  dust ;  and  there  you  see 
the  work  of  another  demon  from  the  abyss, 
sent  forth  by  the  Powers  of  Darkness  to  plague 
mankind.  And  once  more  that  voice  of  God 
says  to  us,  says  to  thee — Is  it  nothing  to  yoii, 
all  ye  that  pass  by  ? 

3.  Or  look  at  Hatred,  its  rarer  active  forms 
of  murder,  assault,  violence,  cruelty  ;  its  more 
universal,  and  in  their  aggregate  hardly  less 
injurious  forms  of  envy,  spite,  scandal,  un- 
charitableness,  innuendo,  depreciation,  slander, 


56 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  it. 


malice,  whispering,  backbiting — multiform  de- 
velopments of  one  base  passion,  multiform 
names  for  one  base  thing.  Thousands  of  men, 
for  instance,  get  their  living  by  writing  anony- 
mously. The  anonymous  is  to  them  an  in- 
visible ring  whereby  they  can,  with  impunity, 
often  even  unsuspected,  speak  of  others  all  words 
that  may  do  hurt.  It  is  as  an  impregnable 
shield,  from  behind  whose  shelter  they  can 
shower  arrow-flights  of  falsehoods,  sneers,  mis- 
representations, disparagements  at  their  defence- 
less victims.  They  can  tarnish  the  merits  of 
an  opponent.  They  can  obliterate  the  services 
of  a  rival.  They  can  gild  the  follies  of  a 
partisan.  They  can  secretly  blight  the  hopes  of 
a  nominal  friend.  They  can  give  a  false  aspect 
to  fair  reasonings,  a  foolish  appearance  to  just 
opinions.  They  can  sneer  away  honest  reputa- 
tions, and  push  empty  pretensions  into  promi- 
nence. They  can  abuse  the  good,  and  belaud 
the  bad.  They  can  be  as  false,  as  hollow,  as 
malignant  as  many  such  writers  daily  show 
themselves  to  be.    There  are,  of  course,  many 


SERM.  II.]   SINCERITY  OF  HEART. 


57 


who  nobly  resist  these  temptations.  They 
can  wear  the  mask  without  using  the  dagger. 
Kut  the  number  is  not  too  large  of  those  who 
G  UI  show  the  supreme  virtue  of  thus  being  able 
to  wear  this  ring  of  Gyges '  and  of  never  abus- 
ing it  to  base  purposes.  In  the  London  press, 
and  in  the  local  press,  and  even,  alas !  in  the 
so-called  "  religious  "  press,  anonymity  is  open 
to  the  basest  of  mankind ;  and  even  when 
names  are  signed  there  is  an  ample  sphere  for 
conceit  and  Pharisaism  ;  and  malice  is  relished  ; 
and  lies  are  profitable  ;  and  bad  men  can  let 
their  tongues  "rage  like  a  fire  against  the 
noblest  names ; "  and  the  many-headed  beast 
of  credulity,  ignorance,  and  envy  accepts  what 
they  say.  "  Their  throat  is  an  open  sepulchre  ; 
with  their  tongues  have  they  deceived ;  the 
jjoison  of  asps  is  under  their  lips."^  And  thus, 
alike  in  public  life  and  in  private  life,  does 

■  Plat.  Rep.  ii.  §  3;  Herod,  i.  8.  Hence  the  proverb  Ti-yav 
tcKTiKiov.  "  Hunc  igitur  ipsum  annulum  si  habeat  sapiens  nihilo 
plus  sibi  licere  putet  peccare,  quam  si  non  haberet.  Hone  ta 
enim  bonis  viris  non  occulta  quaei  untur." — Cic.  de  Off.  iii.  9 

•  Rom.  iii.  13,  14;  Ps.  v.  9;  Matt.  xv.  18,  19  ;  Ja.  v.  2-8  ;  i.  26. 


5  8  EPHPIJA  THA.  [s  tKM  .11. 

the  innate  baseness  and  littleness  of  the  cor- 
rupted human  heart  shoot  out  its  arrows — even 
bitter  words.  And  in  a  world  where  David  once 
said  in  his  haste  that  "  All  men  are  liars,"  and 
where  even  good  men  have  been  sometimes 
tempted  to  say  the  same  thing  at  their  leisure, 
the  voice  of  God  asks  us,  asks  thee — Is  it  7iothiug 
to  you,  all  ye  that  pass  by  ? 

4.  Once  more, — for  I  shall  not  attempt  to 
exhau.st  the  catalogue,  or  fill  in  the  outlines  of 
the  unlovely  picture — look  at  the  love  of  money. 
It  is  a  fiend — this  Mammon  » — which  tries  to  wear 
a  more  respectable  exterior  than  other  fiends. 
He  goes  to  church,  and  figures  not  seldom  in 
the  phylacteries  of  the  Pharisee.  Yet,  this  is 
he  who  taints  with  falsity  so  much  of  the  trade 
and  commerce  of  the  world.  Who  that  is 
familiar  with  all  the  ins  and  outs  of  "  business" 
has  not  heard  of  false  balances  ;  deceitful 
weights  ;    sham  prices ;  exorbitant   demands  ; 

'  The  personification  is  of  course  later.  The  word  is  a 
substantive,  derived  perhaps  from  "  De  mammona — de 

.'cilicet." — Tert.  adv.  Marc.  iv.  33. 


SERM.  II.]   SINCERITY  OF  HEART. 


59 


adulterated  goods ;  the  bribing  of  household 
servants  ;  the  rings  of  middlemen  to  prey  on 
the  community  ;  deliberate  combinations  to  keep 
up  artificial  prices  ;  good  dealers  made  to  pay 
bad  debts;  "trade  customs,"  which,  if  they 
were  not  regarded  as  customs,  would  be  re- 
garded as  plain  dishonesties  ?  Who  has  not 
heard  of — perhaps  suffered  from — swindling 
speculations,  bubble  companies,  fraudulent 
bankrupts,  defaulting  trustees,  cunning  em- 
bezzlements, pious  directors  of  unstable  banks  ? 
Who  does  not  see  grasping  luxury,  which  will 
not  stretch  out  one  of  its  fingers  to  the  grind- 
ing poverty  at  its  very  doors  ? — Who  does  not 
know  of  "Wealth,  a  monster  gorged,  mid 
starving  populations  "  ?  All  these  are  the  result 
of  that  universal  love  of  money,  which  is  the 
root  of  all  evil ;  they  are  the  works  of  Mammon, 

"  Mammon,  the  least  erected  spirit  that  fell 

From  heaven ;  for  even  in  heaven  his  looks  and  thoughts 
Were  ever  downward  bent,  admiring  more 
The  riches  of  heaven's  pavement,  trodden  gold. 
Than  aught  divine  or  holy  else  enjoyed 
In  vision  beatific." 


6o 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm  ii. 


And  when  you  look  over  this  dreary  waste 
of  avarice, — when  you  see  myriads  loving  not 
God  but  gold — says  not  the  voice  of  God 
again  to  tJiee — Is  it  nothing  to  you,  all  ye 
that  pass  by  ? 

5.  Well,  my  brethren,  these  are  some  of  the 
phenomena  of  the  world  we  live  in  ;  some  of 
the  conditions  which  exist  around  us  and  which 
we  strive  hardest  to  ignore.  But  things  are,  as 
they  are;  and  tJiis  is  the  World  of  Sin.  We 
may  not  leave  it.  It  were  treason  in  these  days 
to  fly  from  it  to  the  monastery  or  to  the  hermi- 
tage. We  live  in  the  midst  of  it,  and  it  is 
in  vain  merely  to  cry  "  Woe  is  me  that  I  am 
constrained  to  dwell  with  Mesech,  and  to  have 
my  habitation  among  the  tents  of  Kedar." 
We  are  where  God  has  placed  us,  and  there 
we  must  stay  till  He  gives  us  the  signal  to 
fall  out  of  the  ranks.  Let  us  recogn'se  the.';e 
plain  facts.  I  feel  well  assured  that  if  you 
would  think  of  it,  and  confess  it,  there  is  not 
one  among  all  you  who  hear  me  who  has  not 
been  painfully  grazed,  in  the  lives  of  those  dear 


SERM.  II.]   SINCERITY  OF  HEART. 


6i 


to  you,  or  sorely  wounded,  in  your  own  lives, 
by  the  poisoned  barbs  of  one  or  other  of  these 
sins  of  lust,  or  excess,  or  slander,  or  hate,  or 
avarice.  And  these  were  among  the  worst 
miseries  which  made  Jesus  sigh.  He  too  had 
seen  all  these  things.  We  saw  last  Sunday  that 
He  was  familiar  with  the  world  of  sorrow  ;  He 
was  no  less  familiar  with  the  world  of  sin.  He 
had  lived  for  thirty  years  in  a  malignant,  gossip- 
ing provincial  village.  He  had  seen  an  evil 
and  adulterous  generation.  He  had  suffered 
from  slanderous  Pharisees  and  sneering  Saddu- 
cees.  He  had  seen  depraved  sinners,  and  cheat- 
ing publicans.  He  had  watched  the  highly 
respected  Dives,  in  his  luxury  and  selfishness, 
with  sycophants  fawning  on  him  at  the  banquet, 
while  Lazarus  lay  starving  and  dying  at  his 
gates.  He  had  seen  the  rich  niggard  striding 
selfishly  about  his  barns,  while  the  poor  were 
dying  out  of  doors.  He  had  seen  the  gay 
young  fool  ride  away  from  the  home  of  his 
father  to  "see  life,"  as  he  called  it,  and  "enjoy 
himself."    He  had  seen  him  devour  his  living 


62 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  ii. 


with  harlots;  He  had  seen  him  famishing  among 
the  swine.  And  all  these  things  "  stuck  in  Him 
like  a  nail."  But  was  He  content  to  see  this, 
and  only  pity  it  ?  Nay,  but  He  did  all  that 
His  very  utmost  love  could  do.  For  the  sake 
of  these  hard  Pharisees,  and  niggardly  misers, 
and  lying  critics,  and  gay  young  fools — and  all 
their  conceit  and  misery,  and  all  their  hard- 
ness and  malignity,  and  all  their  weakness 
and  shame,  He  left  heaven  ;  He  emptied  Him- 
self of  His  glory  ;  He  took  on  Him  a  slave's 
semblance ;  He  chose  the  poor  man's  lot.  He 
left  the  high  Hallelujahs  of  the  Seraphim  for 
the  weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth  of  this 
world's  outer  darkness.  He  shrank  not  from 
shuddering  contact  with  its  leprosy  of  meanness, 
and  lust,  and  hate. — He  not  only  sigJted  for  the 
world ; — He  died  for  it,  amid  the  execrations 
of  its  howling  multitudes,  upon  its  cross  of 
agonising  shame  ! 

6.  And  He  did  all  this  to  redeem  the  world ; 
and  it  was  part  of  His  work  of  redemption  to 
leave  us  to  fill  up  what  was  lacking  in  His 


SERM.  II.]    SINCERITY  OF  HEART. 


63 


afflictions  ;  to  render  it  possible  for  us  to  do  the 
work  which  He  gave  us  to  do.'  We  need  not 
(as  I  have  said  already)  try  to  fathom  the 
mystery  zvhy  God  should  require,  should  de- 
mand, should  reward  the  agency  of  man  ;  why 
instead  of  enlightening  the  heathen  He  should 
bid  us  enlighten  the  heathen  ;  why  He  should 
bid  us — miserable,  faithless  creatures  that  we 
are — bid  tts  feed  His  lambs ;  bid  us  comfort  His 
afflicted  ;  bid  us  set  free  His  prisoners  ;  bid  us 
take  care  of  His  poor.  It  is  useless  for  us  to 
ask  wJiy  it  is  so  ;  suffice  us  that  it  is  so.  What 
then  are  we  to  do  ?  Refuse  His  command  we 
cannot,  for  we  are  His  children,  His  soldiers, 
His  scholars.  His  servants.  What  then  are  we 
to  do  ? — How  can  we  make  better  His  ruined 
world  of  sin  } 

7.  Well,  my  brethren,  the  first  answer — the 
only  one  on  which  we  can  dwell  to-day — is  a  very 

■  Col.  i.  24.  On  what  is  meant  by  supjilementing  the  defi- 
ciencie";  of  the  afflictions  of  Christ,  not  by  vicarious  but  by 
ministrative  and  wefiil  sufferings,  I  may  refer  to  my  Life  of 
St.  Paul,  ii.  458. 


64 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  n. 


simple  one.  But,  though  simple,  it  is  stringent, 
rigid,  and  inexorable.  It  is  that  we  can  only 
begin  to  do  Christ's  work,  in  striving  to  make  His 
world  better,  by  personal  innocence,  by  personal 
holiness.  Ah,  how  many  will  stumble  over  this 
entrance !  The  priests  of  Dagorr  used  to  leap 
over  the  threshold  of  their  idol ; '  but  not  so  can 
any  one  enter  into  the  Temple  of  the  Most  High 
God.  The  way  into  that  temple  shall  be  called 
the  way  of  holiness.*  The  man  who  is  not  sin- 
cere in  self-amelioration  can  never  be  a  prophet 
of  God.  Men  who  have  begun  wickedly  have 
indeed  sometimes — like  St.  Augustine,  like 
Bunyan,  like  Whitefield — turned  over  a  new 
leaf,  and  begun  a  new  life.  But  I  do  not  be- 
lieve that  even  these — greatly  as  God  blessed 
their  efforts — have  done  as  much  as  they  other- 

'  See  Zeijh.  i.  9.  "  In  the  same  day  also  will  I  punish  all 
(hose  that  leap  on  the  threshold."  Kimchi  explains  this  of 
ihnse  who  forcibly  enter  the  dwellings  of  the  poor  ;  but  the 
pa-sage  is  usually  explained  by  a  custom  of  the  priests  of  Dagon, 
who  are  said  to  have  leaped  over  the  threshold  on  which  the 
Fish-god's  head  and  hands  were  broken  (l  Sam.  v.  5).  Thii 
seems  to  be  the  view  of  the  Chaldee  Paraphrast. 

•  Is.  XXXV.  8. 


SEKM.  II.]   SINCERITY  OF  HEART. 


65 


wise  might  have  done.  For  surely  that  man 
builds  better  who  builds  upon  foundations 
than  he  who  builds  on  ruins.  And  this  at  any 
rate  is  certain,  that  no  hypocrite,  no  bad,  no 
insincere  man,  can  heal  in  any  degree  the  sin- 
fulness of  the  world.  Not  till  he  is  converted, 
can  he  strengthen  his  brethren.  Alas!  even  when 
he  is  converted,  he  may  find  that  he  has  maimed, 
that  he  has  ruined  his  own  transcendent  powers 
of  usefulness.  How  bitter  was  the  wail  of  the 
mighty  Mirabeau,  that  if  he  had  had  but 
character,  if  he  had  but  been  a  pure  and 
righteous  man,  if  he  had  not  degraded  his 
life  by  sensuality,  and  his  youth  by  evil  passions, 
he  could  have  saved  France.  Many  a  man 
has  felt  the  same.  He  has  dipt  his  own  wings  ; 
he  has  suffered  to  be  shorn  away  the  sunny 
locks  of  the  Nazarite,  wherein  would  have  lain 
his  strength  ;  he  has  wounded  himself;  and  even 
when  the  wound  has  closed,  the  frightful  scar 
remains.  But  if,  while  he  himself  is  still  in  the 
gall  of  bitterness  and  the  bond  of  iniquity,  he 
essays  to  amend  the  morals  of  the  world,  he 

F 


66 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm. 


will  either  disgrace  and  weaken  his  own  cause, 
or  the  good  he  does  in  one  direction  will 
be  undone  by  the  evil  in  the  other.  To  such  an 
one — shaming  him,  weakening  him,  warning 
him  that  they  who  bear  the  vessels  of  the  sanc- 
tuary must  themselves  be  clean ' — come  the 
stern  words  of  Christ,  "  First  cast  out  the 
beam  out  of  thine  own  eye,  and  then  shalt 
thou  see  clearly  to  take  out  the  mote  out 
of  thy  brother's  eye  ;  "  ° — or  the  crushing  ques- 
tions with  which  St.  Paul  suddenly  beats  down 
the  self-satisfied  boast  of  the  Pharisees — "Thou 
makest  thy  pillow  on  the  law ;  and  boastest  in 
God;  and  dost  recognise  His  will;  and  dost 
discriminate  the  transcendent ;  and  art  confi- 
dent that  thyself  art  a  leader  of  the  blind,  a 
light  of  those  in  darkness,  a  trainer  of  the 
foolish,  a  teacher  of  babes — thou  then  that 
teachest  another,  teachest  thou  not  thyself? 

'  Is.  lii.  II. 

=  Matt.  vii.  5.  The  English  version  here  misses  the  distinction 
of  the  ^<c  and  the  diro,  which  is  the  best  reading,  in  v.  4.  The 
mote  is  only  on  the  surface  of  our  brother's  eye  ;  the  beam  is  in 
the  depths  of  our  own. 


SERM.  II.]    SINCERITY  OF  HEART. 


67 


Thou  that  proclaimest  not  to  steal,  dost  thou 
steal  ?  thou  that  sayest  do  not  commit  adultery, 
dost  thou  commit  adultery  ?  leather  of  idols, 
dost  thou  rob  temples  ?  thou  who  boastest  in 
the  law,  through  transgression  of  the  law  dost 
thou  dishonour  God  ? "  '  As  in  the  words  of  the 
modern  poet — 

"  Thou  to  wax  fierce 

In  the  cause  of  tlie  Lord, 
To  threat  and  to  pierce 

With  the  heavenly  sword  ! 
Thou  warnest  and  smitest  ; 

Yet  Christ  must  atone 
For  a  soul  which  thou  slightest — 

Thine  own."  ^ 

8.  Yes,  my  brethren,  let  us  understand  it  very 
distinctly — understand  it  as  an  eternal  and  in- 
evitable condition — that  to  do  good,  we  must 
be  good.  When  any  one  is  a  truly  good  man, 
then  even  if  he  takes  no  part  whatever  in  holy 
wars  against  the  sin  of  the  world,  his  mere 

■  For  the  reasons  of  various  expressions  in  this  translation  of 
Rom.  ii.  17-23,  I  must  refer  to  my  Life  of  St  Paul,  ii.  201,  202. 
'  J.  H.  Newman,  Poems. 


6B 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  ii. 


unconscious  influence,  his  mere  passive  character 
becomes  a  blessing  to  others,  and  without  any 
conscious  endeavour  he  still  drops  his  little 
quota  into  the  stream  of  the  world's  improve- 
ment. About  the  mere  presence  and  person 
of  good  men  there  hangs  a  charm  and  spell 
of  good  which  makes  them  do  good,  even 
when  they  are  not  consciously  thinking  of 
good.  Their  very  face  does  good,  as  though  it 
were  the  face  of  an  angel,  and  from  their  mere 
silence  there  spreads  an  influence — a  "  flowing 
in  " — of  higher  motives,  and  purer  thoughts  into 
the  souls  of  men.  It  was  said  of  the  ancient 
Cato  that,  when  he  entered,  the  young  Roman 
nobles  blushed  for  their  base  amusements.  It 
is  told  of  the  young  Bernadino  of  Siena  that, 
even  as  a  boy,  all  bad  words  were  hushed  at 
once  when  he  joined  a  group  of  his  companions.' 
And  so  too  the  mere  presence  of  bad  men 
makes  us  bad.  Marguerite  asks  Faust  with 
surprise  how  it  is  that  she  finds  herself  unable 

'  Mrs.  Jameson,  Art  Legends  of  the  Monastic  Orders,  p.  2gi. 


SERM.  n.]    SINCERITY  OF  HEART.  69 


to  pray  when  his  friend  is  with  him."  How 
many  a  crime  has  been  consummated  solely 
because  of  vicious  weakness  unconsciously  made 
plastic  by  the  voiceless  power  of  stronger  wick- 
edness !  Among  the  pure  and  good,  the  base 
and  impure  inspire  a  shuddering  repulsion,  such 
as  the  presence  of  Judas  Iscariot  seems  to  have 
inspired  in  the  heart  of  St.  John  ;  but  among 
the  many  who  are  but  weakly  bad,  the  con- 
tagion of  stronger  wickedness  has  an  assimi- 
lating force.  How  many  might  say  with  the 
guilty  king — 

"  Hadst  not  thou  been  by, 
A  fellow  by  the  hand  of  nature  sealed, 
Quoted,  and  signed,  to  do  a  deed  of  shame, 
This  murther  had  not  come  into  my  mind.  .  .  . 
Hadst  thou  but  shook  thy  head,  or  made  a  pause. 
Or  turned  an  eye  of  doubt  upon  my  face, 
As  bid  me  tell  my  tale  in  express  words. 
Deep  shame  had  struck  me  dumb,  made  me  break  off, 

'   "  Das  ubermannt  mich  so  mehr, 

Dass  wo  er  [Mephistopheles]  nur  mag  zu  uns  treten, 
Mein  ich  sogar  ich  liebte  dich  nicht  mehr. 
Auch  wenn  er  da  ist,  konnt'  ich  nimmer  beten, 
Und  das  frisst  mir  ins  Herz  hinein." 

— Goethe,  Faust. 


70 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  ii. 


And  those  thy  fears  might  have  wrought  fears  in  me  ; 

But  thou  didst  understand  me  by  my  signs, 

And  didst  in  signs  again  parley  with  sin  ; 

Vea,  without  stop,  didst  let  thy  heart  consent, 

And  consequently  thy  rude  hand  to  act, 

The  deed  which  both  our  tongues  held  vile  to  name."  ' 

And  SO,  when  bad  men  are  not  yet  hardened 
in  wickedness  they  can  be  won  over  by  the 
good,  but,  when  they  are,  they  hate  and  perse- 
cute the  good  whose  mere  silent  lives  rebuke 
them.  It  was  thus  that  Sodom  hated  Lot.  It 
was  thus  that  the  Ephesians  expelled  Hermo- 
dorus  because  he  was  virtuous.^  It  was  thus 
that  the  Athenians  ostracised  Aristides  because 
he  was  just.  "The  honourable  and  religious 
gentleman,"  said  a  slave-holding  member  of 
parliament,  speaking  of  Wilberforce  in  the 
House  of  Commons ;  and  he  was  properly 
scathed  in  reply  with  the  lightnings  of  that 
good  man's  eloquence.  But  the  epithet  spoke 
volumes  for  the  silent,  the  unconscious,  the 
inevitable  injlimice, — the  silent,  the  unconscious 


'  King  John,  act.  iv.  sc.  2. 

'  Diog.  Laert.  ix.  2;  Cic.  7 use.  Disp.  v.  36. 


6ERM.  II.]    SINCERITY  OF  HEART.  71 


rebuke  of  vice,  and  protest  for  holiness  which 
springs  from  the  ordinary  life  of  every  true 
and  righteous  man.  And  mark  that  when 
the  bad,  hating  the  good,  sneer  them  out  of 
court,  repress  them  by  violence,  madden  the 
bUnd  multitude  against  them  with  dark  lies, 
poison  them  as  Socrates  was  poisoned,  banish 
them  as  Epictetus  was  banished,  burn  them 
as  Savonarola  was  burned,  execrate  them  as 
Whitefield  was  execrated,  do  not  think  that 
then  the  good  have  failed.  "  Even  in  their  ashes 
live  their  wonted  fires  ;  "  their  voices  even  from 
the  grave  sound  in  the  thunder's  mouth  ;  their 
dead  hands  pull  down  the  strongholds  of  their 
enemies,  and  tyrants  tremble  at  their  ghosts. 
What  was  the  end  of  Jesus Between  two 
mut  lerers  He  hung  in  agony  upon  His  cross, 
amid  the  bowlings  alike  of  secular,  and  of  re- 
ligious, hate  ;  and,  before  three  centuries  were 
over,  that  gibbet  of  torture  and  of  infamy  sat 
upon  the  sceptres  and  shone  in  the  crowns  of 
kings. 

9.  Be  this  much  then,  dear  brethren,  our 


72 


EPHPIIATHA.  [SERM  II, 


lesson  to-day.  Are  we  mere  base,  sensual, 
frivolous,  greedy,  grasping  creatures? — the  mere 
"hungers,  thirsts,  fevers,  appetites,"  money- 
makers and  money-investors  of  the  world  ?— 
creeping  about  amid  the  low  noises  of  the  mist, 
and  caring  only  to  clutch  such  husks  as  we  may 
find  ? — Are  we  this  (and  alas  !  it  would  describe 
too  many  lives  !) — or  are  we  noble  enough  to  enter 
into  the  meaning  of  the  sigh  of  Jesus,  and  share 
His  pure  and  divine  compassion  for  the  world  ? 
Well,  if  so,  we  must  also  enter  into  the  spirit 
of  His  life.  And  the  very  first  condition  of 
doing  that  is  sincerity  ; — a  sincerity  which  can 
only  be  shown  in  the  whole-hearted  effort  after 
personal  innocence,  after  personal  holiness.  It 
is  to  this  point  that  my  whole  appeal,  and  my 
whole  argument,  has  tended.  If  we  would  do 
as  Jesus  did,  we  must  be  His  servants.  If  we 
would  help  to  heal  the  evils  of  the  world,  we 
must  ourselves  be  free  from  them.  If  we  would 
tend  the  plague-stricken,  there  must  not  be  the 
plague  in  our  own  hearts.  We  must  be  con- 
sistent, and  give  proofs  of  our  consistency. 


SERM.  n.]  SINCERITY  OF  HEART.  73 


It  was  in  vain  for  Seneca  to  declaim  against 
luxury  in  villas  which  excited  the  envy  of  an 
emperor ;  or  against  greed  with  millions  out  at 
extortionate  usury.  Such  declamations  sound 
hollow  ;  such  appeals  ring  false.  He  who  would 
help  others,  must  not  only  show  the  way,  but 
lead  the  way. 

If,  for  instance,  we  would  heal  the  woes 
inflicted  by  Intemperance,  let  us  beware  that 
we  are  not  perishing  by  permitted  things." 
We  shall  not  reclaim  others  from  excess  by 
going  ourselves  to  the  utmost  verge  of  indul- 
gence ;  nor  is  it  the  boon  companion  who  as 
a  rule  will  rescue  the  drunkard  from  his  fall. 

Again,  if  we  would  fain  heal  the  horrible  evils 
caused  by  Sensuality — its  inward  rottenness — 
its  pervading  corruption — its  burning  intensity 
— its  hardened  selfishness — its  stealthy  contami- 
nation :  then  we  must  be  pure  in  life ;  and  we 
must  pray  more  and  more,  and  strive  more  and 
more,  to  be  pure  in  heart.  Blessed  and  happy 
is  he  who  can  show  in  his  own  life  that  the 

'  "  Perimus  licitis ;"  motto  of  Sir  Matthew  Hale. 


74 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  ii. 


repression  of  unlawful  impulse  is  the.  well- 
spring  of  unwonted  strength.  "  Blessed  will  he 
be  who  shall  re-persuade  the  world  how  divine 
is  the  blush  of  modesty  on  young  human 
cheeks ;  how  high,  beneficent,  sternly  inexor- 
able, if  forgotten,  is  the  duty  laid,  not  on 
women  only,  but  on  every  creature,  in  regard 
to  these  particulars."' 

Again,  if  we  would  help  to  cure  the  world, 
and  England,  and  London,  and  the  rich,  and  the 
middle  classes,  and  trade,  of  the  cancer  of  Greed, 
it  will  be  useless  if  we  ourselves  are  basely 
and  selfishly  fond  of  money.  We  must  our- 
selves be  superior  to  this  dull  yellow  fascination ; 
we  must  ourselves  be  able  to  pour  silent  con- 
tempt on  gold ;  to  have  the  open  hand  and  the 
hberal  heart ;  to  prove  our  belief  in  the  truth 
that  it  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive  ; 
to  find  our  best  investments  in  private  acts  of 
charity  and  public  deeds  of  munificence ;  to 
stem,  so  far  as  we  can,  that  creeping  wave  of 

'  Carlyle,  Frederic  the  Great,  ii.  30. 


SERM.  II.]  SINCERITY  OF  HEART. 


75 


niggardliness  which,  like  the  muddy  tide  on 
the  coast  of  Lancashire,  is  "  always  shallow, 
yet  always  just  high  enough  to  drown."  The 
threepenny  pieces  in  the  offertory  plate  must 
no  longer  be  the  indication  of  the  organised 
hypocrisy  of  our  charitableness,  and  the  daring 
secrecy  of  our  unbelief.  We  raised  statues  to 
an  American  merchant,  because  in  his  lifetime 
he  gave  a  large  sum  to  the  poor,  as  though 
he  were  a  hero, — as  though  the  gift  of  a  rich 
man  out  of  vast  euperfluity  were  some  phe- 
nomenal and  unheard-of  virtue.  Doubtless  the 
rarity  of  such  munificence  made  it  look  like 
an  act  of  antique  saintliness ;  but  if  such 
deeds  had  been  so  highly  thought  of  in  the 
early  days  of  Christianity  there  would  have 
been  statues  in  every  street.  Hundreds  of  rich 
men  among  us  might,  almost  without  feeling  it, 
have  followed  his  example  if  they  would  have 
prayed  the  prayer  graved  upon  the  slab,  beneath 
which  for  a  time  his  body  rested  in  the  nave 
of  this  Abbey,  "  My  daily  prayer  to  my 
Heavenly  Father  was,  that  in  gratitude  for  the 


76 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  k. 


mercies  He  has  granted  mc,  I  might  be  enabled 
to  do  some  signal  good  to  my  fellow  creatures 
4r  before  I  died." 

Lastly,  if  we  desire  to  heal  the  deadly  wounds 
of  malice,  we  must  look  well  to  it  that  in 
our  conversation  be  never  heard  the  serpent's 
hiss.  We  must  speak  no  slander,  no,  nor  listen 
to  it.  We  must  not  help  the  half-brained  dwarf 
society — 

"  To  find  low  motives  unto  noble  deeds, 
To  fix  all  doubt  upon  the  darker  side  ; " 

but  our  speech  must  be  with  grace  seasoned 
with  salt.  The  reputations  of  our  enemies  must 
be  as  sacred  from  our  gossip  as  those  of  our 
dearest  relatives,  and  the  absent  must  be  as 
safe  on  our  lips  from  secret  malice  as  are  the 
dead. 

lO.  My  brethren,  are  these  hard  conditions 
They  are  not  too  hard  if  we  use  the  grace  which 
God  gives  us,  and  ask  for  more  grace ;  and 
they  are  noble  conditions ;  and  they  are  abso- 
lutely indispensable  conditions ;  and  they  do 


SERM.  II.]  SINCERITY  OF  HEART. 


77 


contribute  to  the  mighty  end  in  view.  He 
who  docs  this, — he  who  lives  thus  ; — he  whose 
appetites  are  his  slaves,  not  his  masters  ; — he 
who  has  never  dropped  into  the  ears  of  another 
he  "  leperous  distilment "  of  unclean  thoughts  ; 
— he  who  can  give  liberally  and  not  grudge  ; — he 
whose  palm  does  not  itch  for  gold;— he  who 
can  love  even  his  enemies; — he  who  can  not 
merely  say  "  I  forgive,"  but  can  and  does  ex 
ammo  forgive  even  those  who  have  secretly 
and  most  seriously  wronged  him  ; — he  who 
keeps  innocency,  and  does  the  thing  that  is 
right,  and  speaks  the  truth  from  his  heart,  and 
has  not  given  his  money  upon  usury,  nor  sworn 
to  deceive  his  neighbour — Ae  shall  not  only  find 
peace  at  the  last — shall  not  only  receive  for 
himself  the  blessing  of  the  Lord,  and  righteous- 
ness from  the  God  of.  his  salvation:  but  men 
shall  take  note  of  him  that  he  has  been  with 
Jesus.  And  however  obscure  or  humble  may 
have  been  his  lot  ; — however  much  fools  may 
have  counted  his  life  madness,  and  his  end  to 
be  without  honour  ; — yet,  because  he  has  left 


78 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  ii. 


the  world  better  than  he  found  it,  wisdom  at 
last  shall  be  justified  of  her  children;  the 
judgments  of  Heaven  shall  correct  the  false 
and  partial  judgments  of  man's  brief  day ; ' 
the  memory  of  the  just  shall  be  blessed,  when 
the  name  of  the  wicked  rots. 

'  I  Cor.  iv.  3,  i)io\  5e  €is  lKi.x"ir6v  (artv,  Hya  tifiat 
avaKpiOai  %  virh  dvBpainlviis  ijftfpas. 


SERMON  III. 

ENERGY  OF  CHRISTIAN 
SERVICE. 


ENERGY  OF  CHRISTIAN  SERVICE. 


Almighty  God,  who  didst  give  such  grace  to  Thy  holy 
Apostles  that  they  readily  obeyed  the  calling  of  Thy  Son  Jesus 
Christ,  and  followed  Him  without  delay,  grant  unto  us  all  that 
we,  being  called  by  Thy  Holy  Word,  may  forthwith  give  up 
ourselves  obediently  to  fulfil  Thy  Holy  Commandments,  through 
the  same  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  Amen. 


nOAAOI  TAP  EI2I  KAHTOI,  OAIFOI  AE  EKAEKTOI.— Matt. 
XX.  l6. 

Mf-yas  yap  6  ayiiv'  /J-fyas,  Koi  ovx  <i<ros  Sohu'  -rh  xpV"^^"  ^ 
Kaxhy  yev(<T0ai. — Pl.ATO. 

etrr]  yhp  5i)  Sis  </)ei<ri  irepl  Tas  TeAcraj  vap9-r}K0^6poi  fiiv  iroXXol, 
fidKxoi  Se  yf  Travpoi. — Clem.  Alex.  Strom,  i.  p.  315  ;  v.  p.  554. 


He's  a  slave  who  dare  not  be 
In  the  right  with  two  or  three ; 
He's  a  slave  who  would  not  choose 
Hatred,  slander,  and  abuse. 
Rather  than  in  silence  shrink 

From  the  truth  he  needs  must  think."— J.  R.  Lowell. 


"What  is  martyrdom 
But  death-defying  utterance  of  belief?  "—George  Eliot. 


SERMON  III. 


ENERGY  OF  CHRISTIAN  SERVICE. 

Matt.  xx.  6,  7. 
"  Why  stand  ye  here  all  the  day  idle  ?    Go  ye  also  into  the 
vineyard." 

We  were  led,  my  friends,  two  Sundays  ago, 
to  think  over  the  meaning  of  the  sigh  of  Jesus 
when  He  said,  "  Ephphatha,  be  opened  ; "  and 
seeing  that  it  was  wrung  from  Him  by  deep 
compassion  for  a  sick  and  sinful  world,  we  tried 
to  learn  how  ignoble  it  would  be  in  us  if  we  did 
not  share  that  deep  compassion,  and  find  in  it, 
as  He  found  in  it,  a  stimulus  to  noble  action. 
And  when,  last  Sunday,  we  thought  of  the  ways 
in  which  we  could  each  take  our  humble  share 
in  the  vast,  the  necessary,  the  Christlike  work 
of  the  amelioration  of  the  world,  we  saw  further 


84 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  hi. 


that  the  sorrows  of  the  world  are  caused  mainly 
by  its  sins  ;  and  that,  in  the  warfare  against 
those  sins,  the  very  first  condition  is  sincerity 
and  wholeheartedness  in  ourselves — the  struggle 
at  least  after  personal  innocence  and  personal 
holiness.  I  am  speaking  to  hundreds  who  are 
unknown,  and  who  never  will  be  known  beyond 
their  own  circle,  or  the  parish  in  which  they 
live  ;  to  hundreds  who,  a  few  years  after  their 
deaths,  will  be  as  pathetically  forgotten  as 
though  the  river  of  Lethe  had  flowed  over  their 
obliterated  names.  Yet  they  may  be  dearer  to 
God  than  the  most  famous,  and  their  work  as 
precious  to  men  "as  the  continuity  of  the  sun- 
beams is  precious,"  though  we  forget  the  bright- 
ness of  the  past  summer  days.  For  no  mean 
benefactor  of  the  world  is  he,  who,  even  in  the 
humblest  and  most  private  capacity,  has  been 
able  to  show  —  were  it  but  by  his  obscure 
example  in  one  quiet  home — that  his  soul 
breathes  a  purer  atmosphere  than  that  which 
floats  in  the  corrupted  currents  of  the  world. 
"  He    is   a  good   man,"   said    Napoleon  of 


SERM.  III.]    CHRISTIAN  SERVICE.  85 


Prince  Charles  of  Austria,  a  general  whom 
he  had  often  met  on  the  field  of  battle,  "  he 
is  a  good  man,  and  that  is  everything."  Aye, 
for  our  own  individual  peace  and  blessedness 
doubtless  it  is.  There  is  an  awful  duty 
incumbent  on  each  one  of  us  to  be  at  least 
thus  much.  Alas  !  how  many  of  us  can  venture 
humbly  to  hope  that  we  are  good  men  Of  how 
many  would  all  men  say  with  any  emphas's  of 
conviction,  "  He  is  a  good  man  "  And  even  of 
those  whom  others  reckon  among  the  good, 
how  many  would  be  able,  even  in  the  lowest 
sense,  to  accept  such  a  title  for  themselves ' 
Amid  the   storms    of    the    sea   of   life,  its 

■  "  How  few  are  those  whose  passage  upon  this  foolish  planet 
has  been  marked  by  actions  really  good  and  useful !  I  bow 
myself  to  the  earth  before  him  of  whom  it  can  be  said,  '  Perti  am- 
ivit  benefaciendo  ; '  who  has  succeeded  in  instructing,  consoling, 
lelieving  his  fellow  creatures  ;  w  ho  has  made  real  sacrifice  for 
the  sal<e  of  doing  good  ;  tho  e  heroes  of  silent  chanty  who  hide 
themselves  and  expect  nothing  in  the  world.  But  what  are  the 
common  run  of  men  like  ?  and  how  many  are  there  of  us  in  a 
thousand  who  can  ask  tliemselves  without  terror,  '  What  have  I 
<fone  in  this  world  ?  Wherein  have  I  advanced  the  general 
work  ?  and  what  is  left  of  me  for  good  and  for  evil  ? '  "—J.  DE 
Maistre. 


86 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  hi. 


devious  currents,  its  treacherous  calms,  its 
sunken  reefs,  its  wreckers'  beacons,  how  many 
of  us  are  sailing  straight  to  the  everlasting 
haven,  with  firm  hand  upon  the  helm  ?  Ah, 
it  is  a  great  thing,  it  is  "a  far  cry"  to  most  of 
us,  to  be  merely  good  men,  victors  of  our 
spiritual  enemies,  victors  of  ourselves,  "  It  is 
hard,"  said  the  ancient  thinker, "  a  hard  struggle, 
and  not  so  easy  as  it  seems,  to  become  good." 
He  was  right.  It  is  a  hard  thing,  and  there 
are  thousands  of  us,  it  may  be,  of  whom  as  yet, 
God  asks  nothing  more. 

2.  And  yet  there  have  been  epochs  of  history, 
there  are  crises  in  all  men's  lives,  in  which  God 
does  require  more  ;  in  which  He  needs  the  aid 
not  only  of  His  called,  who  are  many,  but  of 
His  elected,  who  are  few.  Let  us  think  this 
afternoon  whether  that  call  does  not  come 
specially  to  some ; — in  its  measure  to  every 
one  of  us.  It  is  told  of  a  brave  bishop,  not 
long  dead,  that  when  he  decided  to  leave  all 
English  prospects  to  face  the  struggles  of  a 
young  colony,  a  very  high  ecclesiastical  dignitary 


SERM.  Ill  ]    CHRISTIAN  SERVICE. 


87 


expressed  his  intense  astonishment  that  a 
man  so  well  situated,  such  a  "  rising  man," 
to  use  the  vulgar  term,  should  sacrifice  all  ease 
and  all  ambition  to  go  forth  to  hardship  and 
poverty.  "  I  suppose,"  said  the  friend  to  whom 
the  expression  of  surprise  was  addressed,  "  I 
suppose  that 

"  'He  sees  a  hand  you  cannot  see, 
Which  beckons  him  away ; 
He  hears  a  voice  you  cannot  hear 
Which  will  not  let  him  stay.'  " 

"  Ah  !  "  said  the  other,  wholly  unconscious 
of  the  covert  irony,  "  I  suppose  that  must  be 
it!"  That  a  young  man,  marked  for  what  the 
world  calls  "  promotion  "  and  "success,"  should 
actually  resign  this  for  a  position  of  no  ease  and 
little  dignity,  was  to  the  good  old  dignitary  an 
inexplicable  enigma.  But,  my  brethren,  do  we 
not  all  of  us,  at  our  nobler  moments,  hear  also 
that  voice  and  summons  }  Have  we  not  all 
seen,  at  times  of  our  clearest  vision,  the  beckon- 
ing fingers  of  that  mysterious  hand  .■' 

And,  if  so,  whence  does  the  hand  beckon  us } 


88 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  hi. 


Far  from  the  world  ;  from  its  farms  and  its  mer- 
chandise ;  from  its  conventionality  and  malice ; 
from  its  hypocrisies  and  follies  ;  from  its  greed 
and  ambition  ;  from  its  vulgarities  of  comfort, 
and  surfeitings  of  luxury;  from  the  jostling, 
pressing,  elbowing  crowd  of  its  selfish  com- 
petitions; from  its  littlenesses  and  hatreds  ;  from 
its  vain  pomp  and  show ;  from  its  degraded 
religionism,  its  rancorous  contentions,  its  vain, 
vile  hopes. 

And  whither  does  the  voice  call  us  }  To  efforts 
for  Heaven's  eternal  treasures,  rather  than  for 
earth's  perishing  gold  ;  to  the  sacrifice,  if  need 
be,  of  earthly  hopes,  of  earthly  enjoyments,  of 
earthly  affections ;  to  names  recorded,  not  on 
Fame's  icy  tablets,  but  in  God's  book  of  life  ; 
to  the  rank  and  promotion,  not  of  them  "  who 
have  their  good  things  in  this  life,"  but  of  the 
last  here  who  shall  there  be  first  in  goodness. 
Aye,  and  to  goodness  for  the  sake  of  goodness  ; 
to  the  lessons  of  the  Mountain  of  Beatitudes  ;  to 
work  for  God,  not  for  self,  and  for  the  sake  of 
the  sei-vice,  not  for  the  sake  of  the  reward.  Has 


SERM.  111.]    CHRISTIAN  SERVICE.  89 


not  that  voice  sometimes  called  us  "  to  Mount 
Sion,  and  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect, 
and  to  Jesus,  the  Mediator  of  the  New  Cove- 
nant, and  to  the  blood  of  sprinkling,  which 
speaketh  better  things  than  the  blood  of  Abel  "  ? 
Do  any  of  you,  were  it  even  in  faintest  tone, 
hear  that  call  to-day  ?  Does  it  say  to  you, 
"  You  are  walking  in  the  sacred  procession, 
but  do  you  feel  the  inspiring  God ? '  Does 
it  ask  you,  Are  you  even  trying  to  save  your 
own  soul,  or  are  you  drowning  it  in  the  mud 
of  pleasure  and  the  siftings  of  gold  ?  And 
ah  !  if  you  are  trying  to  save  your  own  soul, 
does  it  content  you  to  save  it  alone  ?  Is  the 
whole  world  of  "  men,  your  brothers,"  nothing 
to  you  ?  does  the  sigh  of  Jesus  wake  no  echo 
in  your  heart  ?  Are  you  content  to  clutch  for 
your  bare  self  one  plank  amid  the  fiery  deluge 
of  universal  ruin  ?  Do  you  think  that  selfishness 
for  Time  is  a  sin,  but  that  if  it  be  spun  out 
to  Eternity  it  is  a  Celestial  Prudence  ?  Or 

'  iroWol  Toi  va06i]Ko<p6poi  ffdnxot  Se  T«  iraupoi. — Pl.AT.  Phaed. 
69.  c. 


90 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  hi. 


will  you  rather  cry,  "  O  Lord,  let  me  not  live 
in  vain !  let  me  not  live  only  for  my  own 
miserable,  shivering,  hungry  self!  Thou  hast 
work  to  do,  oh  let  me  do  it !  Lord !  what 
wouldst  Thou  have  me  to  do  ?  Here  am  I, 
send  me !  "  And  even  while  you  pray  thus, 
will  you  be  willing  to  add  with  the  deep  sub- 
mission of  a  good  man  in  the  last  words  which 
he  wrote  in  his  diary,  "  Let  me  labour  to  do 
God's  will,  yet  not  anxious  that  it  should  be 
done  by  me  rather  than  by  others  if  God  dis- 
approves of  my  doing  it  "  ? '  Alas,  my  friends, 
how  few  of  us  are  good  enough — how  few  con- 
fident enough  in  ourselves — how  many  of  us 
are  too  "pale  in  virtue,  and  faintly  dyed  in 
integrity,"  to  speak  thus !  Yet  such  men 
there  have  been  ;  and  surely  in  this  Abbey,  if 
anywhere, 

"  Ever  their  statues  rise  before  us, 

Our  loftier  brv^thers  but  one  in  blood ; 
At  bed  and  table  they  lord  it  o'er  us. 

With  looks  of  beauty  and  words  of  good." 


'  Dr.  Arnold.    (See  Life,  by  Dean  Stanley,  p.  617.) 


SERM.  in.]    CHRISTIAN  SERVICE.  91 


3.  For  what  has  been,  again  and  again,  the 
course  of  human  history?  Has  it  not  shown 
a  perpetual  tendency  to  deteriorate ;  a  constant 
danger  of  creeping  paralysis  ?  As  long  as 
the  stream  runs  and  battles,  it  is  bright  and 
pure  ;  but  when  it  becomes  a  sluggish  marsh, 
it  stagnates  into  pestilence.  "  The  iris  colours 
its  agitation,  the  frost  fixes  on  its  repose."  So 
long  as  there  is  continual  wrestling  of  Right 
against  Wrong,  shoulder  to  shoulder,  arm  to 
arm,  it  is  well ;  but  when  Right  has  won  her 
partial  victory,  and  Good  and  Evil  lie  flat  to- 
gether, in  truce  and  compromise,  it  ceases  to  be 
well.  Then  habit,  custom,  convention,  com- 
modity, give  their  bias  to  the  world.  The  salt 
loses  its  savour.  The  unreplenished  lamp  burns 
dim.  Truths  once  vitally  true  are  treated  as 
truisms  and  despised.  Living  faiths  degenerate 
into  dead  theologies.  Burning  watchwords  are 
degraded  into  acrid  shibboleths.  "Virtue  is 
tamed  out  of  her  splendid  passion."  The  moral 
sense  is  drugged  with  the  opiates  of  convention- 
ality.   Vice  decks  herself  in  phylacteries,  and 


92 


EPHPUA  THA.  [sERM.  in. 


walks  in  broad  beaten  paths.  Nations  bow  in 
the  House  of  Rimmon,  and  Prophets  have  no 
reproof.  Words  change  their  meaning.  Enthu- 
siasm is  dubbed  "  fanaticism  ;"  lust  is  called  gal- 
lantry ;  the  sins  of  youth  arc  "soft  infirmities 
in  the  blood;"  cheating  is  but  sharp  business; 
dishonest  gains  are  only  "the  ways  of  trade." 
Churches  split  themselves  into  parties  and  are 
lashed  into  excitement  about  paltry  trivialities. 
Good  customs,  degenerating  into  mechanical 
practices,  corrupt  the  world.  What  was  once 
2.  mark  of  religion  becomes  a  badge  of  party  pro- 
fession. All  society  becomes  rotten  to  the  core. 
Then  amid  the  mist  and  the  low  noises,  "far 
off  a  solitary  trumpet  sounds,"  and  lo  !  God  has 
called  forth  one,  or  two,  or  three  of  His  servants.' 

■  "Always  it  is  the  individual  that  works  for  progress,  not  the 
age.  It  was  the  age  that  made  away  with  Socrates  by  poison  ; 
it  was  the  age  w  hich  burnt  Huss  at  the  stake.  The  ages  have 
always  been  the  same." — GoTHE. 

"  Was  ist  Mehrheit?    Mehrheit  ist  ein  Unsinn, 
Verstand  ist  stets  bei  Wen'gen  nur  gewesen." 

"  A  mass,  that  is  to  say,  collective  mediocrity." — J.  S.  MILL, 
Liberty,  p.  119. 


SERM.  III.]    CHRISTIAN  SERVICE. 


93 


They  through  grace  obey  the  calling.  He  has 
laid  upon  their  heads  the  hands  of  invisible  con- 
secration. While  they  are  musing,  the  fire  of 
God  burns  within  tliem,  and  at  last  they  speak 
with  their  tongues.  Then  they  devote  them- 
selves to  some  great  cause  ;  they  fling  self-in- 
terest to  the  winds ;  they  tear  away  the  accu- 
mulated cobwebs  of  venerable  sophistry;  "they 
smite  the  hoary  head  of  inveterate  abuse." 
Against  the  subterfuges  of  a  heartless  and  self- 
seeking  society  they  raise  the  Eternal  Standard 
of  the  moral  law.  They  confront  conventional- 
ism with  sincerity.  They  pay  no  respect  to 
the  external  decorum  of  hypocritical  societies. 
They  denounce  falsehood,  robbery,  and  wrong. 
They  plead  the  cause  of  oppressed  humanity. 
What  follows .''  A  roar  of  execration.  They 
please  none.  They  belong  to  no  party,  and 
therefore  all  parties  hate  them.     In  vain  the 

"  When  such  a  man  as  thou  art  is  born  into  the  world  .... 
where  with  the  soul  of  an  apostle  and  the  courage  of  a  martyr 
he  has  singly  to  push  his  way  among  the  heartless  and  aimless 
crowds  that  vegetate  without  living,  the  atmosphere  suffocates 
hiin,  and  he  dies.    Hated  by  sinners,  the  mock  of  focls,  disliked 


94 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  hi. 


warning  sounds  to  the  nations,  "  Touch  not  mine 
Anointed  and  do  my  Prophets  no  harm."  In  all 
ages  alike  the  Pharisees,  who  are  rich,  deride 
them  ;  the  Sadducees  lay  cunning  traps  to  catch 
them  ;  the  Herodians  regard  them  as  persons 
politically  dangerous.  Every  merit  is  denied 
them  ;  they  are  fools,  they  are  fanatics,  they 
are  Samaritans  ;  they  have  a  devil,  and  are 
mad ;  they  are  Arians,  Socinians,  Sabellians, 
heretics  ;  they  are  Quixotic,  Utopian,  un- 
practical ;  they  have  no  moderation  ;  they  are 
actuated  by  a  mawkish  sentimentality ;  their 
learning  is  ignorance,  their  aim  mischief,  their 
zeal  pretence  ;  they  "  appeal  to  none  but  the 
half-educated  " ;  none  of  the  Scribes  or  Pharisees 

by  the  envious,  abandoned  by  the  weak,  what  can  he  do  but 
return  to  God,  weary  with  having  laboured  in  vain,  in  sorrow  at 
having  accomplished  nothing?  The  world  remains  in  all  its 
vileness  and  all  its  hatefulness,  and  this  is  what  men  call  the 
triumph  of  good  sense  over  enthusiasm." — George  Sanu. 

Such  language  is  not  unnatural  on  the  lips  of  those  who  have 
no  real  belief  in  God  or  in  Immortality  :  but  the  very  object  of 
all  Scripture — and  most  of  all  the  object  of  our  Lord's  teaching 
— was  to  lead  us  to  look  to  the  eternal  fruitfulness  of  all  self- 
sacrifice  ill  the  cause  of  good,  however  complete  its  apparent 
failure. 


SERM.  in.]    CHRISTIAN  SERVICE.  95 


believe  in  them.  They  might  say  with  St.  Gre- 
gory of  Nazianzus  that  they  have  "  more  stones 
thrown  at  them  than  other  men  have  flowers." 
Did  not  Christ  say  it  should  be  so  }  If  they 
called  the  Master  of  the  house  Beelzebub,  how 
much  more  them  of  His  household  }  Said  He 
not  that  the  blessings  which  He  gave  should  be 
"with  persecutions".'  In  soft  days  like  these, 
when  Religion  walks  in  silver  slippers,  there  do 
seem  to  be  some  good  men  whom  all  men 
praise.  They  cut  against  the  grain  of  no 
prejudices  ;  they  never  run  counter  to  tradi- 
tional opinions ;  they  are  judiciously  reticent 
about  current  errors  ;  every  one  speaks  well 
of  them;  they  enjoy  a  beatitude  of  bene- 
dictions which  Christ  never  promised.  And 
there  are  many  timid,  cautious  natures  — 
men  who  spread  their  sails  to  every  shifting 
breeze  of  popularity,  and  would  not  speak 
a  bold  word  against  a  dominant  party,  or 
a  dominant  prejudice,  or  a  triumphant  error — 
not  to  save  their  lives.  Well,  men  differ  ;  peace 
be  with  these  ;  let  them  be  happy  in  their  arm- 


96 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  hi. 


chairs  ;  let  them  "  make  the  best  of  both  worlds," 
and  be  prosperous  candidates  for  amaranthine 
crowns.  The  secret  of  such  success  is  easy.'  But 
this  has  not  been  the  lot — has  never,  in  this  or 
in  any  age  been  the  lot  of  God's  noblest  Saints. 
Mention  me  one  among  them  all — one  slayer  of 
monsters,  one  stormer  of  abuses,  one  reformer 
of  Churches,  one  champion  of  the  wronged — 
who  has  not  been  hated  and  abused !  When 
God  in  bad  times  has  good  soldiers,  He  places 
them  in  the  thick  of  the  battle,  and  they  have 
fallen  under  a  monument  of  darts.  Near  Him, 
they  have  been  near  the  fire.^    For  them  as  for 

'  "Mistiness  is  the  mother  of  wi.sdom.  A  man  who  can  set 
down  half-a-dozen  general  propositions,  which  escape  from 
destroying  one  another  only  by  being  diluted  into  truisms,  «ho 
can  hold  the  balance  between  opposites  so  skilfully  as  to  do 
without  fulcrum  and  beam  ;  who  never  enunciates  a  truth  without 
guarding  himself  against  being  supposed  to  exclude  the  contra 
dictory — this  is  your  safe  man,  and  the  hope  of  the  Church  ; 
this  is  what  the  Church  is  said  to  want  .  .  .  sensible,  temperate, 
sober,  well-judging  men,  to  guide  it  through  the  channel  of  no- 
meaning,  between  the  Scylla  and  Charybdis  of  Yes  and  No."— 
J.  II.  Newman,  Essays,  i.  301. 

°  Alb  tpTia)v  6  ScoTiip,  'O  C77US  nou  eyyiii  rov  ■irvp6s'  i  !e  ixoKpav 
uTf'  f>oO,  ixaKpavdwh  t9,s  3o<nA€i'as.— DidYM US  on  Ps.  Ixxxviii.  8. 


SERM.  III.]    CHRISTIAN  SERVICE.  97 


the  old  Moslem,  "  Paradise  has  been  prefigured 
under  the  shadow  of  the  crossing  scimitars."  ' 
See  how  they  have  sunk  to  the  ground  with 
bleeding  feet  on  the  world's  highway,  whereon 
often  till  death  they  have  walked  well-nigh 
alone  !  But  what  happens  ?  They  have  never 
failed — never  ultimately  failed  ;  they  have 
startled  the  deep  slumber  of  false  opinions ; 
they  have  thrilled  a  pang  of  noble  shame  through 
callous  consciences ;  they  become  magnetic. 
Into  the  next  age,  if  not  into  their  own,  "they 
flash  an  epidemic  of  nobleness." 

"  They  utter  but  a  thought, 
And  it  becomes  a  proverb  for  the  state ; 
They  write  a  sentence  in  a  studious  mood  : 
It  is  a  saying  for  a  hemisphere." 

Yes,  their  goal  becomes  a  starting-point  of 
their  followers  ;  their  heresy  the  truth  of 
churches  ;  the  sons  of  their  murderers  build 
their  tombs.  But  indeed  they  need  no  tombs  : 
for  their  tombs  are  reared  in  the  gratitude  of 

■  Compare  tyyv^  fiaxa'pas,  iyyvs  @eov'  /x€Ta|i;  fiaxaifias,  /jern^u 
eeov. — Ignat.  at/  Smyr.  4. 

H 


98 


EPHPHATHA.  [seum. 


nations,  and  their  epitaphs  are  written  on  the 
ruins  of  the  lies  which  they  have  annihilated, 
and  the  immoral  tyrannies  which  they  have 
overthrown.' 

4-  See  if  it  has  not  been  so.  Glance  first 
at  the  history  of  the  chosen  people,  which  best 
you  know.  Israel  had  gone  down  into  Egypt, 
and  in  the  torpid  civilisation  of  that  sluggish 
soil— amid  the  leeks  and  the  melons,  the  flesh- 
pots  and  the  cucumbers— they  were  fast  sinking 
into  a  nation  of  sensual  slaves.  Then  in  the 
burning  bush  God  appeared  to  Moses,  and  sent 

■  In  his  Essay  on  Liberty  (p.  52)  Mr.  Mill  speaks  of  the  dictUDi 
that  "truth  always  triumphs  over  persecution,"  as  "one  of 
those  pleasant  falsehoods  which  men  repeat  after  one  another  till 
they  turn  into  commonplaces,  but  which  all  experience  refutes. 
.  .  .  To  speak  only  of  rerigious  opinions:  the  Reformation 
broke  out  at  least  twenty  times  before  Luther,  and  was  put 
down.  Arnold  of  Brescia  was  put  down,  Fra  Dolcino  was  put 
down.  Savonarola  was  put  down.  The  Albigenses  were  put 
down.  The  Lollards  were  put  down.  The  Hussites  were  put 
down.  Even  after  the  era  of  Luther  wherever  persecution  was 
persisted  in  it  was  successful."  It  is  undeniable  that  tmths  may 
be  suppressed  for  a  time  ;  Init  .'^urely  the  testimony  borne  by  all 
history  is  that  tinth,  in  .spite  of  persecution,  does  tend  in  the 
long  run  to  establish  itself  and  to  prevail. 


SERM.  III.]    CHRISTIAN  SERVICE. 


99 


him  to  rouse  this  dull  people ;  and  with  plague, 
and  conflict,  and  victory,  and  the  rolling  waters 
of  the  sea,  he  led  them  into  the  free  air  of  the 
wilderness.  And  when,  even  in  the  wilderness, 
they  relapsed  into  lust  and  sloth,  and — falling 
into  the  accursed  trap  set  for  them  by  Balaam 
son  of  Beor  —  would  have  been  consumed, 
Phinchas,  the  son  of  Eleazar,  the  son  of  Aaron 
the  priest,  once  more  saved  them, — piercing 
adulterer  and  adulteress  with  one  thrust  of  his 
avenging  spear.  Then  they  conquered  Canaan, 
but,  again  and  again  sinking  into  the  same 
idolatry,  the  same  degradation,  they  became 
a  prey  to  all  the  .surrounding  tribes.  How  did 
God  deliver  them  }  By  better  men  than  common 
men  ;  by  braver  men  than  cautious  men  ;  by 
men  who  would  not  shelter  themselves  in  refuges 
of  lies  ;  by  men  whose  love  to  Him  still  burned 
like  a  fire  on  the  altar  of  noble  hearts,  not 
yet  buried  under  the  whitening  embers  of 
immoral  acquiescence.  Wild  times  needed  wild 
remedies.  From  Moab,  from  Amalek,  from 
Canaan,  from  the  Amorite,  from  the  Philistine, 

H  2 


lOO 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  in 


the  wooden  dagger  of  Ehud,  the  flashing  torch 
of  Gideon,  the  burning  inspiration  of  Deborah, 
the  rude  sword  of  Jephthah,  the  rough  strength 
of  Samson,  the  stainless  ephod  of  Samuel, 
set  them  free.  What  was  the  one  grand 
quality  of  all  these  men  ?  It  was  Courage. 
Not  mere  physical  courage — though  that  is 
something— but  the  moral  courage  which  towered 
behind  the  physical  courage;  the  faith  in  right 
which  puts  an  invincible  sword  into  the  grasp 
of  resolution  ;  the  courage  which  so  hates  and 
despises  wrong-doing,  that  in  facing  evil  it  is 
not  afraid  to  die.  I  may  be  speaking  to  some 
young  men  for  whom  the  day  shall  come  on 
which  they  may  need  the  courage  to  risk  life, 
or  things  as  dear  as  life,  in  confronting  guilty 
tyranny,  or  strong  oppression,  or  conventional 
falsehood,  or  immoral  custom.  Well,  let  them 
do  it,  and  not  be  afraid.  Gideon's  300  routed 
the  Amalekites  ;  the  300  at  Thermopylae  faced 
the  myriads  of  Xerxes  ;  the  three  at  the  Milvian 
bridge  saved  Rome  from  the  hosts  of  Porsena. 
Are  these  but  dead  facts  of  history  or  of  legend  > 


SERM  III.]    CHRISTIAlV  SERVICE. 


Do  they  need  more  modern,  and  very  humble 
examples  ?  Well  then,  let  me  tell  them  of  the 
old  woman  whose  dauntless  bearing  in  the  face 
of  a  surging  tumult,  saved  the  only  two  houses 
that  were  saved  in  Queen  Square  at  the  Bristol 
riots ;  of  the  single  verger  who  saved  the 
cathedral  in  that  city  by  resolutely  closing 
and  barricading  the  door  in  the  face  of  the 
raging  mob ;  of  the  single  sentinel  who,  in  the 
lifetime  of  some  here,  confronted  thousands  at 
the  entrance  of  Downing  Street,  and  prevented 
them  from  attacking  the  house  of  the  Prime 
Minister,  by  telling  them  that  except  over  his 
body  not  a  man  should  pass, — and  who  so  woke 
their  admiration  that  they  gave  him  three  cheers 
and  passed  on.  "  Do  the  thing  and  scorn  the 
consequence."  It  was  the  motto  of  one  of  our 
bravest  generals  in  the  Indian  mutiny.'  It  was 
the  motto  of  the  judges  and  heroes  of  Israel. 
If  we  are  to  do  any  real  good  in  the  world,  it 
must  be  ours. 

'  Colonel  Neill.  See  Sir  J.  Kaye's  History  of  the  Indian 
Mutiny,  ii.  265. 


I02 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  hi. 


5.  But  a  far  rarer,  more  splendid,  more  effective 
thing  than  the  physical  courage  of  warriors 
was  the  spiritual  and  moral  courage  of  the 
Hebrew  Prophets.  They  had  to  take  their 
stand,  not  only  against  brute  violence,  but 
against  perverse  authority  and  corrupted  re- 
ligion ;  against  hypocritic  priests  and  godless 
kings  ;  against  the  monopolists  of  orthodoxy 
and  the  masters  of  armies.'  Well  might 
they  shrink  from  the  hard  task.  One  of 
them  was  diffident ;  =  another  was  a  poor 
peasant ;  3  another  was  called  when  a  mere 
boy  ;  ♦  and  in  the  bitter  wail  of  Jeremiah,s  you 
may  hear  how  painfully  they  felt  the  task  that 
was  laid  upon  them.  Yet  how  bravely  they 
performed  it !  Before  the  terrible  Je/.ebel  and 
her  Baal  priesthood  Elijah  takes  his  stand  ;^ 
he  confronts  Ahab  at  the  vineyard  gate  of 
his  murdered  victim;'   Zechariah  rebukes  the 

'  See  Jer.  i.  lo ;  v.  31  ;  xviii.  7  ;  xxv.  17,  H  ;  Ezek.  xxii. 
26,  &c. 

=  Is.  vi.  5.  3  Amos  vii.  14.  *  Jer.  i.  6. 

5  Jer.  XX.  7-18.  ^  I  Kings.  x\Tii.  15.      '  l  Kings  xxi.  18. 


SERM.  III.]    CHRISTIAN  SERVICE.  103 


apostatising  Joash  ; '  at  the  high  priests  Pashur 
and  Amaziah,  Jeremiah  ^  and  Amos  3  hurl  their 
defiant  curse ;  into  the  palace  of  Herod,  the 
prophet  of  the  desert  strides  with  his  blunt 
reproof.  When  religion  in  Judah  had  degene- 
rated into  gorgeous  externalism,  the  message  of 
the  prophets  was  a  protest  for  everlasting  truths. 
Sequences  of  colours — shapes  of  vestments — 
methods  of  ablution — repetitions  of  formulae 
— archffiological  disputes  about  the  interpreta- 
tion of  rubrics — these  are  not  religion ;  have 
nothing  to  do  with  pure  religion  and  undefiled. 
"  I  will  have  mercy  and  not  sacrifice."  "  Your 
new  moons  and  fasts  and  feasts  I  cannot  away 
with  ;  "  5  but  "  wash  you,  make  you  clean,  put 
away  the  evil  of  your  doings  from  before  Mine 
eyes."  ^  Not  "  thousands  of  rams,  or  ten  thou- 
sands of  rivers  of  oil,"  but  what  the  Lord 
requires  of  thee  is  "to  do  justly,  and  to  love 
mercy,  and  to  walk  humbly  with  thy  God."' 


'  2  Chr.  xxiv.  20.  ^  Jer.  xx.  3-6. 

<  Hos.  vi.  6 ;  Matt.  ix.  13  ;  xii.  7. 

*  Is.  i.  16.  7  Mic.  vi.  6-8. 


3  Amos  vii.  17. 

5  Is.  i.  13,  14. 


I04  EPHPHATHA.  [sekm.  in. 

These  were  the  messages  of  the  proi^hets,  and 
these  the  truths  which  might  have  saved  the 
chosen  people.  And  though  the  chosen  people, 
Hke  all  people,  murdered  their  prophets  and 
slew  those  who  were  sent  unto  them,  these  are 
the  truths  which  have  again  and  again  regene- 
rated the  world.  They  are  truths  which  raise 
their  eternal  protest  against  false  types  of  good- 
ness and  false  types  of  orthodoxy,  and  even  if 
destroyed  for  a  time  they  spring  up  again.  "  So 
do  we  see  a  vigorous  blade  spring  out  of  its 
seed  ;  the  dead  and  rotten  parts  fall  off  on  all 
sides  of  it  ;  it  shoots  up  ;  it  pushes  its  way 
higher  ;  it  emerges  ;  it  rises  to  the  top  ;  it  cuts 
the  upper  air,  and  exults  in  the  light  of 
day."  » 

6.  And  our  blessed  Lord  came  to  strengthen, 
to  inspire,  to  stamp  with  divinest  sanction,  to 
render  alone  and  eternally  effectual  by  His  life 
and  by  His  death — this  work  and  this  pro- 
test— this  hard  fighting  and  this  high  testimony 

'  Mozley,  Uniueisity  Scrnions,  p.  5'- 


SERM.  in.]    CHRISTIAN  SERVICE.  105 


— of  man  for  men.  The  tendency  of  Churches 
to  settle  down  contentedly  into  sham  orthodoxy 
and  spurious  religion  has  never  ceased  ;  and 
again  and  again  has  the  Holy  Spirit  of  Christ 
broken  up  the  fountains  of  the  great  deep  of 
individuality  to  pour  its  lustral  wave  over  the 
putrescent  world.  By  the  Apostles  first, — by 
the  flashing  impetuosity  of  Peter  ;  by  the  stain  - 
less asceticism  of  James  ;  by  the  love  and  the 
lightning  of  John  ;  by  the  heroism  and  daunt- 
lessness  of  Paul — -He  carried  on  His  work. 
Then,  after  the  Apostles,  came  the  Martyrs. 
During  centuries  of  active  and  passive  struggle 
when  they  could  do  nothing  else,  they  died. 
And  so  "  by  the  unresistible  might  of  weak- 
ness," as  with  the  daring  of  "a  host  of  Sc£Evolas," 
Justin,  Ignatius,  Polycarp,  Cyprian,  Lawrence, 
Sebastian,  Pothinus,  Blandina,  Felicitas— philo- 
sophers, bishops,  deacons,  soldiers,  old  men, 
boys,  maidens— they  shook  the  world.  And  then 
when  other  types  were  needed  of  courageous 
protest  and  courageous  individuality,  to  liberate 
souls  from  the  confusion  of  a   dying  society 


io6 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  in. 


in  the  third  century,  St.  Antony  fled  into 
the  desert  ;  amid  the  wreck  of  empire,  in  the 
sixth  century,  St.  Benedict  founded  a  noble 
order  of  monasticism  ;  in  the  midst  of  wealth 
and  corruption,  in  the  thirteenth  century,  St. 
Francis  of  Assisi  became  the  prophet  of  the 
poor.  When  the  life  of  the  Church  grew 
more  and  more  corrupt — when  the  revival 
of  letters  had  made  of  Christianity  a  coarse 
because  a  less  excusable  Paganism — when  Pope 
after  Pope  was  a  monster  of  avarice  and  crime,' 
the  wind  of  Heaven  was  still  blowing  where  it 
listed,  and  pure  foreheads  were  still  mitred  with 
the  Pentecostal  flame.  In  dissolute  Florence 
the  mighty  voice  of  Savonarola  repeated  the 
denunciations  of  Amos  against  dissolute  Jeru- 
salem. In  England  the  words  of  Wyclif,  in 
Bohemia  the  words  of  Huss,  denouncing  usur- 
pation, exposing  falsehood,  proclaiming  truth, 
thrilled  into  the  hearts  of  the  people.  In  vain 
the  guilty  confederacies  of  priests  and  rulers 

'  I  need  but  mention  the  names  of  Paul  II.,  Sixtus  IV., 
Innocent  VIII.,  Alexander  VI.,  Julius  II.,  and  Leo  X. 


ERM.  III.]    CHRISTIAN  SERVICE.  107 


burned  Savonarola,  burned  Huss,  exhumed 
and  scattered  to  the  winds  the  bones  of 
Wydif.  Men  may  be  burned,  truth  cannot 
be  burnt.  Against  the  mitred  atheism  and 
cultured  vice  of  Leo  X.  arose  one  poor  monk, 
and  shook  the  worst  engines  of  spiritual  tyranny 
for  ever  to  the  ground.  Tetzel  was  impudently 
selling  his  pardons  and  indulgences,  and  shame- 
lessly demoralising  the  people  with  all  the 
power  of  the  Papacy  to  back  him,  when  Luther 
sprang  into  the  thick  of  the  battle.  He  nailed 
his  theses  to  the  cathedral  door  of  Witten- 
berg ;  he  flung  into  the  flames  the  papal  bull 
of  condemnation  ;  strong  in  the  simple  invinci- 
bility of  an  awakened  sense  of  truth  and  justice, 
he  faced  emperors,  popes,  dukes,  cardinals, 
doctors,  theologians.'    In  vain  they  told  him 

»  "Nam  Deus  me  invitum  et  nescium  in  haec  tragica  duxit, 
omnibus  amicis  mihi  dissuadentibus.  Sathan  saepe  mihi  dixit, 
Quid  si  falsum  esset  dogma  tuum,  quod  Papam  monachos  mi^sam 
et  tantos  cultus  confundis?  " — Colloquia,  ii.  12.  "  Nam  Cliristum 
praedicavc  est  res  ardua  et  periculosissima.  Si  ego  olim  sci- 
vissem  hujus  ministerii  diRicultatem,  nunqnam  praedicassem." — 
Id.  i.  13. 


io8 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  hi. 


of  perils,  of  imprisonment  and  assassination  ; 
"Were  there  as  many  devils  in  Worms  as 
there  are  tiles  on  the  roofs,  I  would  go  there." 
"  Here  stand  I  ;  I  can  no  other ;  God  help 
me."  They  bid  him  moderate  his  words ; 
he  will  not  moderate  his  words;  "the  word  of 
God,"  he  says,  "  is  a  war,  a  sword,  a  perdition, 
a  stumbling-block,  a  ruin."  '  So  he  stormed, 
and  so  he  set  free  the  fettered  conscience  of 
mankind.  And  many  rose  to  continue  his 
work.  In  Scotland,  Knox  arose,  of  whom  the 
Regent  Morton  said,  "  Here  lies  one  who  never 
feared  the  face  of  man  ;  "  who  said  himself  that 
"  he  .  had  looked  in  the  faces  of  many  angry 
men."  When  he  was  working  in  chains  on  the 
galleys  in  France,  they  brought  him  an  image 
of  the  Virgin,  and  bade  him  worship  the  mother 
of  God.  "  Mother  of  God,"  he  exclaimed,  "  it 
is  a  pcnted  bredd "  (or  board),  and  he  flung 
it  into  the  river  to  sink  or  swim.    "  Who  are 

'  It  was  on  the  occasion  of  his  being  invited  by  the  Elector 
of  Metz  to  meet  the  Spanish  Ambassador  at  dinner.  "  Verbum 
Dei  bellum  est,  gladius  est,  perditio  est,  scandalum  est,  ruina 
est."— Luther,  Colloqttus. 


SERM.  III.]    CHRISTIAN  SERVICE. 


109 


you,"  said  Mary  Queen  of  Scots  to  him,  "  that 
presume  to  school  the  nobles  and  sovereign  of 
this  realm?"  "Madam,"  he  answers,  "a  sub- 
ject born  within  the  same."  "  Have  you  hope  t  " 
they  ask  him  on  his  deathbed,  when  he  can  no 
longer  speak  ;  and  lifting  his  hand  he  pointed 
upwards  with  his  finger,  and  so,  pointing  to 
heaven,  he  died.  He  died,  but  not  his  work ; 
that  was  being  continued  when  the  Mayflower 
sailed  from  Delft  Haven  to  found  on  the  grand 
principles  of  Puritanism  the  mighty  Republic 
of  the  West.  It  was  being  continued  when 
Hampden  and  Cromwell  were  fighting,  and 
Milton  uttering  words  of  fire,  to  save  England 
from  the  Star  Chamber  and  from  ship-money, 
from  the  divine  right  of  an  unscrupulous 
tyranny  and  from  the  ruthless  intolerance  of 
a  narrow  ecclesiasticism.  And  -when  again 
Protestantism  had  run  to  the  dregs,  when  the 
Church  of  England — the  Church  of  Cranmer 
and  Latimer — the  Church  of  Jeremy  Taylor 
and  Andrewes — the  Church  of  Butler  and  Til- 
lotson — the  Church  of  Ken  and  Wilson — had 


I  lO 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  in. 


grown  sleepy  and  effete,  showing  everywhere 
the  trail  of  nepotism,  worldliness,  and  sloth, 
smitten  with  the  disease  of  contented  common- 
place, once  more  the  fire  of  God  burst  forth 
to  scathe  the  very  cedars,  while  the  brambles  in 
their  dense  undergrowth  were  being  consumed. 
It  broke  forth  in  the  last  century,  in  the 
voices  of  Wesley  and  Whitefield,  which  shamed 
into  repentance  and  startled  into  decency,  a 
dissolute  and  faithless  age.' 

1  The  famous  lines  of  Cowper  on  Whitefield  are  at  once  so 
beautiful  as  a  poem,  so  true  as  a  picture,  and  so  powerful  as 
a  warning,  and  they  bear  so  directly  on   much  that  I  have 
been  saying  that  I  venture  to  quote  them  once  more : — 
"  Leuconomus  (beneath  well-sounding  Greek 
I  slur  a  name  a  poet  must  not  speak) 
Stood  pilloried  on  Infamy's  high  stage. 
And  bore  the  pelting  scorn  of  half  an  age, 
The  very  worst  of  slander,  and  the  blot 
Of  every  dart  that  malice  ever  shot. 
The  man  that  mentioned  him  at  once  dismissed 
All  mercy  from  his  lips,  and  sneered  and  hissed. 
His  crimes  were  such  as  Sodom  never  knew, 
And  Perjury  stood  up  to  swear  all  true  ; 
His  aim  was  mischief,  and  his  zeal  pretence, 
His  speech  rebellion  against  common  sense ; 
A  knave,  when  tried  on  Honesty's  plain  rule, 
And  when  by  that  of  Reason  a  mere  fool; 


SERM.  III.]    CHRISTIAN  SERVICE. 


7.  What  is  all  this  to  us  ?  Nothing,  if  life 
be  nothing ;  nothing,  "  if  the  chief  use  and 
market  of  our  time  be  but  to  sleep  and  feed  ;  " 
nothing,  if  the  main  object  of  life  be  in  the 
vulgar  sense  "  to  get  on  ; "  nothing,  if  to  puff 
and  push  our  way  into  rank,  or  to  toil  and 

The  world's  best  comfort  was,  his  doom  was  pass'd. 
Die  when  he  might,  he  must  be  damned  at  last. 

Now,  Truth,  perform  thine  office..    Waft  aside 
The  curtain  drawn  by  prejudice  and  pride, 
Reveal  (the  man  is  dead)  to  wondering  eyes 
This  more  than  monster  in  his  native  gitise. 

He  loved  the  world  that  hated  him  ;  the  tear 
That  dropped  upon  his  Bible  was  sincere. 
Assailed  by  scandal,  and  the  tongue  of  strife. 
His  only  answer  was  a  blameless  life. 
And  he  that  forged,  and  he  that  threw  the  dart 
Had  each  a  brother's  interest  in  his  heart. 
Paul's  love  of  Christ,  and  steadiness  unbribed 
Were  copied  close  in  him,  and  well  transcribed  ; 

Like  him  he  laboured,  and  like  him  content 
To  bear  it,  suffered  shame  where'er  he  went. 

Blu^h,  Calumny  :  and  write  upon  his  tomb. 
If  honest  eulogy  will  leave  thee  room. 
Thy  deep  repentance  of  thy  thousand  lies, 
Which,  aimed  at  him,  have  pierced  the  offended  skies, 
And  .'ay.  Blot  out  my  sin  confess'd,  deplored. 
Against  Thine  image  in  Thy  saint,  O  Lord  ! " 

Cowper's  Hope. 


112 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  hi. 


moil  for  money,  and  then  to  spend  it  on  our- 
selves, or  accumulate  it  in  masses  for  the  ag- 
grandisement of  our  families  be  deemed  a 
worthy  life ;  nothing,  if  we  were  only  born  to 
indulge,  like  natural  brute  beasts,  our  meanest 
passions ;  nothing,  if  the  sigh  of  Jesus  were 
nothing,  or  if  He  would  find  no  wrongs  to 
sigh  for  now.  But  the  millennium  surely  has 
not  yet  begun  !  Even  in  this  our  age  good 
men  do  find  something  to  do,  and  something  for 
which  to  suffer,  and  be  abused.  Clarkson  and 
Wilberforce  and  Zachary  Macaulay  found  that 
there  was  the  slave-trade  to  overthrow.'  Eliot 
and  Martyn  and  Heber  found  heathen  to  con- 
vert. Charles  Mackenzie  and  Coleridge  Patteson 
found  martyrdoms  to  face.    Simeon  and  Venn 

'  The  inscription  under  the  bust  of  Zachary  Macaulay  in 
Westminster  Abbey  was  written  by  Sir  Robert  Inglis,  and 
is  worth  preserving  : — "  In  grateful  remembrance  of  Zachary 
Macaulay,  who,  during  a  protracted  life,  with  an  intense  but 
quiet  perseverance,  which  no  success  could  relax,  no  reverse 
could  subdue,  na  toil,  privations,  or  reproach  could  diunt, 
devoted  his  time,  talents,  fortune,  and  all  the  energies  of  his 
mind  and  body  to  the  service  of  the  most  injured  and  helpless 
of  mankind." 


sicRM.  iii.J    CHRISTIAN  SERVICE.  113 


found  an  evangelical  movement  to  carry  on. 
Arnold  and  Cotton  found  public  schools  to 
elevate  and  purify.  Howard  and  Elizabeth 
Fry  found  prisons  to  regenerate.  Raikes  and 
Pounds  found  Sunday  -  schools  to  establish. 
Pestalozzi  and  Frobel  found  infants  to  teach. 
Bell  and  Lancaster  found  the  system  of  our 
national  education  to  establi.sh.  Mary  Stanley 
and  Florence  Nightingale  crossed  rough  seas 
to  nurse  dying  soldiers.  An  American  citizen, 
George  Peabody,  as  we  heard  last  Sunday, 
achieved  the  astonishing  virtue  of  parting 
with  his  money  before  he  was  dead.  Some 
have  been  ears  to  the  deaf  ;  some  eyes 
to  the  blind  ;  some,  fathers  and  mothers  to 
the  orphaned  ;  some,  tender  nurses  to  the  little 
ones ;  some  have  seen  justice  done  to  the 
little  chimney-sweep,  and  the  little  factory 
child,  and  the  little  acrobat  ;  some  have 
clutched,  are  still  clutching,  by  the  throat  the 
fiend  of  intemperance,  and  all  these,  thank 
God,  have  found  followers.  A  good  many 
have,  on  the  whole,  escaped  the  average ;  have 

I 


114 


EPHPHATHA.  [sekm.  iil 


shaken  off  from  their  robes  the  accumulated 
dust  of  immoral  acquiescence  ;  have  learnt  to 
regard  life  "  not  as  an  adventure,  or  a  pleasure, 
but  as  a  serious  affair — a  task  assigned  to  each 
of  us  ;  a  duty,  to  learn  which  trouble  is  neces- 
sary ;  a  work  which  must  be  continued  to  our 
last  hour."  And  these  have  been  the  great 
good  men  "who  stretched  out  their  strong  arms 
to  bring  down  Heaven  upon  our  earth." 

8.  And  to  all  of  us  the  record  of  the  good 
men  who  have  gone  before  us,  is  as  a  trumpet's 
blast  to  make  us  cry 

"  O  that  the  forces  indeed  were  arrayed  !  O  joy  of  the  onset ! 
Sound,  thou  trumpet  of  God  ;  come  forth,  great  cause,  to  array 
us ! 

King  and  leader,  appear  ;  thy  soldiers,  sorrowing,  call  thee  !  " 

But  He,  the  King  and  Leader,  answers,  "  Walk 
in  My  steps,  as  these  did.  They  tended  My 
sheep ;  they  fed  My  lambs  ;  they  flung  the 
offenders  of  My  innocents  with  millstones  round 
their  necks  into  the  sea  ;  they  crushed  the 
viper-head  of  lies  ;  they  quenched  the  fire  of 
intolerance ;  they  dashed  their  hands  on  the 


SERM.  Ill  ]    CHRISTIAN  SER  VICE.  1 1 5 


lion-mouth  of  tyranny ;  they  set  at  liberty  the 
bruised  victims  of  oppression."  They  did  all 
this:  can  you  do  nothing?  or  is  it  that  you 
are  too  much  pledged  to,  and  immersed  in, 
the  guilty  customs  and  false  aims  of  the  world 
to  even  try  to  amend  them  ?  How  can  you 
speak  for  tolerance,  if  you  be  an  anonymous 
slanderer  and  savage  persecutor  of  other  men's 
opinions  ?  how  for  truth,  if  there  be  a  lie  in  your 
right  hand  ?  how  for  freedom,  if  you  be  supplying 
men  with  the  rivets  for  their  chains  ?  how  for 
Christian  love,  if  your  whole  little  nature  be  acrid 
with  envy  and  with  hate  ?  Or  is  it  that  humble 
duties  are  too  small  for  you  ?  You  could  die  like 
a  hero ;  but  yet  somehow  you  cannot  constrain 
yourself  to  do  even  the  smallest  good  deed  in 
secret  self-sacrifice  ?  You  feel  yourself  capable 
of  the  most  magnanimous  martyrdoms,  but 
how  can  you  be  expected  to  give  up  that 
favourite  falsehood  or  that  mean  vice  ?  You 
want  to  reform  the  world  ;  but  yet,  somehow, 
you  are  dishonest  in  your  shop,  and  mean  in 
your  office,  and  bitter  in  your  language,  and 

I  2 


Tl6 


EPHPHATHA. 


[SERM.  III. 


impure  in  your  life,  and  incapable  of  the  most 
trivial  self-denial  in  the  heart  of  your  family ! 
Ah  !  might  not  the  old  Rabbi  teach  you  ?  "  A 
man  who  confesses  his  sin  without  renouncing  it," 
said  Rav  Ada  bar  Matthia,  "  is  like  one  holding 
a  creeping  thing  in  his  hand  to  whom  defile- 
ment will  continue  to  cling,  though  he  washes 
himself  with  all  the  water  in  the  world."  Ah! 
do  you  not  feel  over  your  head,  all  the  while, 
the  busy  winnowing  of  Satan's  winnow-fan }  do 
you  not  almost  see  the  mocking  smile  of  the 
fiend,  who  knows  as  well  as  you  how  easy  it 
is  to  be  a  saint  in  the  sunny  dreams  of  the 
future,  while  every  step  on  the  dusty  road 
of  the  present  is  a-  step  of  shame }  He  is 
winnowing  the  mildewed  ears  of  what  once 
might  have  been  wheat  in  you.  While  you  are 
so  eagerly  snatching  up  vehement  opinions  in 
ignorance  and  passion  ;  while  you  are  trying  to 
crush  an  enemy  by  sheer  violence,  and  trample 
savagely  on  the  fallen  ;  while  you  are  envious  ; 
while  you  are  small-minded ;  while  you  are 
swelling  the  blind  clamour  against  unpopular 


SERM.  in.]    CHRISTIAN  SERVICE. 


117 


personages  ;  while  you  are  revelling  in  false  dis- 
paragements ;  while  you  are  holding  back,  for 
your  own  gain,  the  truths  which  God  has  plainly 
given  you  to  see  ;  while  you  are  living  to  scrape 
up  money  ;  while  you  are  ready  to  sacrifice  every 
thing,  and  every  one,  to  the  base  gratification 
of  a  passion — and,  it  may  be,  all  the  while 
talking  about  religion  and  the  world's  good — 
Satan  is  all  the  while  winnowing  you,  until 
"in  the  dust  of  your  bodies,  and  the  wreck  of 
your  souls,"  nothing  shall  be  left  but  chaff  for 
him.  But  Christ,  too,  has  His  awful  winnow- 
ing-fan,  and  shall  throughly  purge  His  thresh- 
ing-floor. And  oh !  where — wheve  in  that 
worthless,  mouldering  heap  of  chaff—of  lust  and 
envy — of  frivolity  and  vanity — of  avarice  and 
intemperance — that  niggardly  withholding  and 
loveless  selfishness — oh,  where  will  be  the  wheat 
for  His  garner  t  Saints  }  heroes  }  reformers  of 
abuses  slayers  of  monsters  }  regenerators  of 
the  world  i* — oh,  begin  first  by  being  decently 
pure,  truthful,  kindly,  honest,  courageous  men  ! 
Begin  by  thinking  a  little  of  others.    Begin  by 


ii8 


EPHPHATHA. 


j^SERM.  III. 


sparing  a  little  of  your  substance.  Begin  by 
giving  cups  of  cold  water  in  Christ's  name  to 
Christ's  little  ones.  Begin  by  doing  faithfully 
the  small  simple  duty  which  lies  nearest  you. 
Begin  by  trying  to  feel  so  much  of  what  Jesus 
felt  when  He  sighed  for  a  ruined  world,  as  at 
least  not  daily  to  wring  with  sighs  the  heart  of 
His  ruined  children,  the  heart  of  His  faithful 
servants.  So  perchance  may  He  at  last  send 
you  also,  were  it  but  at  the  eleventh  hour,  to 
work  in  His  vineyard.  So  may  He  enable  you 
to  rise  above  yourselves  and  your  own  selfish 
interests — to  feel  what  His  sigh  meant,  and  to 
labour  in  His  sick  and  suffering  world. 


SERMON  IV. 
THE  WINGS  OF  A  DOVE. 


THE  WINGS  OF  A  DOVE. 


Almighty  and  everlasting  God,  who  dost  govern  all  things 
in  heaven  and  earth,  mercifully  hear  the  supplications  of  Thy 
people,  and  grant  us  Thy  peace  all  the  days  of  our  life,  through 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  Amen. 


SERMON  IV. 


THE  WINGS  OF  A  DOVE. 
Ps.  LV.  6-8. 

"  And  I  said,  O  that  I  had  uings  like  a  dove,  for  then  would  1 
fly  away  and  be  at  rest.  Lo  !  then  would  I  get  me  away  far 
off,  and  remain  in  the  wilderness^  I  would  make  haste  to 
escape  because  of  the  stormy  wind  and  tempest."  ' 


'  It  is  unnecessary  to  enter  into  any  critical  discussion  as  to 
the  exact  translation  of  these  words.  Though  not  without 
difficulty,  the  sense  of  them  seems  to  be  well  expressed  in  the 
musical  and  familiar  Prayer-book  version,  from  which  I  have 
here  quoted  them.  Nor  again  do  I  think  it  necessary  to  enter 
into  the  question  whether  David  is  or  is  not  the  author  of  the 
Psalm.  Hitzig  attributes  it  to  Jeremiah,  and  thinks  that  the 
faithless  friend  alluded  to  is  the  Priest  Pashur,  on  whom  the 
Prophet  denounces  so  terrible  a  curse  (Jer.  xx.  1-6).  Ewa'd 
again  brings  it  down  to  the  period  precedin:^  the  Captivity.  But 
the  superscription  attributes  it  to  David,  and  not  a  single  valid 
argument  has  been  adduced  to  render  the  authorship  improbable. 


124 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  iv. 


A  GREAT  living  painter '  has  endeavoured  to 
express  the  thought  of  these  verses  in  a  beautiful 
picture.  He  represents  the  king  seated  at  eventide 
upon  his  palace  roof  It  was  there  that  he  had 
been  sitting  on  a  far  different  evening,^  whcii  in 
pride,  fulness  of  bread,  and  abundance  of  idle- 
ness,3  he  had  opened  the  wicket  gate  to  <-hat 
thought  of  sin  which  had  treacherously  betrayed 
the  citadel  of  his  soul  to  ten  thousand  terrible 
enemies,  and  caused  the  sun  of  his  glory  to  set 
in  seas  of  blood  and  shame.  Very  different  was 
his  mood  on  this  evening.  The  crown  whic'"'  he 
had  won  from  the  city  of  waters  was  laid  aside 
from  the  dark  hair  which  had  been  already 
silvered  by  age  and  sorrow.  The  arm  that 
smote  the  giant  rests  wearily  upon  the  parapet. 

The  passage  in  Jeremiah  (ix.  2) — "  Oh  that  I  had  ni  the  w.ider- 
ness  a  lodging  place  for  wayfaring  men  ;  that  I  might  leave  my 
people  to  go  from  them  !  for  they  are  all  adulterers,  an  assembly 
of  treacherous  men  " — is  an  echo  of  the  Psalmist's  longing 
'  Sir  F.  Leighton. 

'  Sam.  xi.  2.  "  And  it  came  to  pass  in  an  eveningtide  that 
David  arose  from  off  his  bed  and  walked  upon  t)  c  roof  of  the 
king's  house." 

3  Ezek.  xvi.  49. 


SERM.  IV.]       WINGS  OF  A  DOVE.  125 


What  good  has  all  his  glory  done  him  ?  In 
what  respect  is  he  the  better  for  the  songs  which, 
setting  him  above  his  sovereign,  had  sung  of  him 
that  Saul  had  killed  his  thousands,  and  David 
his  ten  thousands  ?  Had  not  his  earthly  fame 
trembled  into  nothingness,  like  those  passing 
breaths  of  articulated  air  ?  Might  he  not  have 
been  a  better  and  a  happier  man  if  God  had 
never  taken  him  away  from  the  sheepfolds, 
from  following  the  ewes  great  with  young  ones  ? 
a  better  and  happier  man,  if,  instead  of  be- 
coming first  the  captain  of  outlaws,  and  then 
the  king  of  Israel,  he  had  remained  the  de- 
spised of  his  family,  the  innocent  ruddy  shepherd 
lad,  and  grown  grey  with  the  sun  smiting  him 
at  noon,  and  the  dews  falling  on  him  as  he 
kept  watch  over  his  flocks  by  night  ?  And  as 
these  sad  thoughts  chase  each  other  through 
his  mind,  his  eye  falls  on  a  flock  of  doves,  which 
seem  to  be  flying  far  away  into  the  glories  of 
sunset,  ere  it  is  swallowed  up  into  the  darkening 
night,  and — while  a  world  of  hollow  friend, 
and  broken  system,  "  made  no  purple  in  the 


126 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  iv. 


distance  " — he  envies  the  swift  wings  which  carry 
to  some  safe  shelter  their  defenceless  innocence. 
And  then,  seizing  his  harp,  he  pours  torth  a 
wail  of  passionate  complaint,  and  exclaims,  "  Oh 
that  I  had  wings  like  a  dove,  for  thei.  w^jld 
I  fly  away  and  be  at  rest  !  I  would  make 
haste  to  escape  from  the  stormy  wind  and 
tempest." 

How  often  has  the  same  wish  been  sighed  forth 
by  multitudes  of  hearts!  We  are  all  tl.i  niore 
familiar  with  it,  and  with  the  feeling  which  it  ex- 
presses, because  we  have  heard  it  sung  so  '/f"en 
to  that  music  of  Mendelssohn's  which  seems 
to  shadow  forth  more  than  the  tongue  can  utter, 
— the  music  so  full  of  tender  and  infinitv,  yearn- 
ing, in  which  we  seem  to  share  the  hovering  of 
the  dove,  and  to  see  it  scatter  the  sunli"-ht  ^nd 
the  dew  from  its  pure  wings  as  they  beat  in 
the  air  of  upper  heaven. 

"  Oh  had  I  the  wings,  the  wings  of  a  dove, 
Far  away,  far  away  would  I  rove ; 
la  the  wilderness  make  me  a  nest. 
And  remain  there  for  ever  at  rest !  " 


SERM.  IV.]      WINGS  OF  A  DOVE.  127 


My  friends,  we  have  been  turning  our 
thoughts  lately  to  the  sigh  of  Jesus.  We  have 
seen  that  it  sprang  from  no  transient  emotion  ; 
that  it  was  not  the  mere  luxury  of  a  sluggish 
selfishness  ;  but  that  it  was  wrung  for  a  moment 
from  the  depths  of  an  eternal  compassion,  and 
was  at  once  human  and  divine, — human  in  its 
sadness,  divine  in  the  energy  and  toil  of  self- 
sacrifice  which  it  inspired.  And  we  have  seen 
that  we  ought  to  share  in  the  feelings  which 
caused  that  sigh,  and  in  the  work  to  which  it 
led  ;  and  we  have  seen  something  too  of  the 
conditions  under  which  we  can  alone  take  part 
in  this  amelioration  of  the  world.  To-day  let 
us,  by  way  of  contrast,  think  a  little  of  this  sigh 
of  David,  which  is  the  sigh  of  many  men  ;  sighs 
natural  indeed,  and  excusable  indeed,  and  like 
the  sigh  of  Jesus  so  far  as  they  are  innocently 
human,  but  which  have  in  them,  alas,  too  little 
of  the  divine. 

How  many  a  man  at  death,  how  many  a  man 
long  before  death  came,  has  heaved  such  sighs ! 
Turn  to  your  Bible,  which  refects  the  varying 


128 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  iv. 


moods  of  so  many  minds,  and  you  will  find 
there  the  record  of  a  multitude  of  these  sighs  of 
weariness,  of  discouragement,  of  self-disgust,  of 
pain.  Most  ignoble  are  they  when  they  are 
prompted  by  a  wretched  peevishness  like  that 
of  Jonah,  wishing  himself  dead  because  his 
gourd  is  withered  and  because  God  has  spared 
Nineveh,  and  so  God's  mercy  has  triumphed 
over  his  paltry  personal  credit;' — or  by  a  cynical 

'  Jon.  iv.  8,  9.  How  deeply  instructive  is  Jonah's  sullen  wrath 
because  God  has  not  fulfilled  the  threatened  doom  upon  Nineveh  ! 
The  temper  of  the  prophet  in  the  Old  Testament  closely  re- 
sembles that  of  the  elder  brother  of  the  prodigal  in  the  New. 
"  I  pray  thee,  O  Lord,  was  not  this  my  saying  when  I  was  yet  in 
my  country  ?  Therefore  1  fled  before  unto  Tarshish  :  for  I  knew 
that  Thou  art  a  gracious  God  and  merciful,  slow  to  anger  and  of 
great  kindness,  and  repentest  Thee  of  the  evil.  Therefore  now, 
O  Lord,  take,  I  beseech  thee,  my  life  from  me ;  for  it  is  better 
for  me  to  die  than  to  live  !  "—Jon.  iv.  2.  Jonah  might  well 
"know  "  that  "  the  Eternal  is  the  Eternal,  merciful  and  gracious, 
long-suffering,  and  abundant  in  goodness  and  truth,"  because 
God  had  proclaimed  it  to  Moses  long  before  (I'x.  xxxiv.  6,  7). 
But  it  would  go  hard  with  men— and  not  least  with  many  of  the 
best  and  noblest  men  who  ever  lived — if  man,  not  God,  were  the 
judge  :  hardest,  perhaps,  of  all  if  those  men  were  the  judges 
who  profess  mo^t  loudly  a  zeal  for  God's  honour.  What  chance 
had  "publicans  and  sinners" — nay,  what  chance  of  escape  had 
even  the  Kin^  of  Saints— when  there  were  Scribes  aad  Pharisees 
in  the  judgment  seat? 


SERM.  IV.]       WINGS  OF  A  DOVE.  i2g 


pessimism,  like  that  of  the  sated  Solomon, 
which,  until  he  is  brought  to  a  better  mood, 
sees  nothing  in  life  but  a  universal  emptiness  ;» 
— or  by  a  black  suicidal  despair  like  that  of 
Judas  Iscariot,  aching  under  the  terrible  glare 
of  illumination  flung  upon  conscience  by  ac- 
complished crime.  But  even  the  nobler  spirits 
sometimes  succumb  for  a  moment  to  these 
merely  selfish  weaknesses.  God's  greatest 
saints  have  sighed  not  only  with  the  pure 
pity  of  Jesus,  but  with  the  impatience  and 
short-sightedness  of  sinful  man. 

Let  us  take  some  instances.  Moses  had  as 
brave  and  mighty  a  heart  as  ever  beat  in  any 
breast,  yet  he  exclaims,  "Wherefore  hast  Thou 
afflicted  Thy  servant }  Have  /  conceived  all  this 
people }  have  I  begotten  them,  that  Thou 
shouldst  say  unto  ine.  Carry  them  in  thy  bosom 
I  am  not  able  to  bear  all  this  people  alone.  If 
Thou  deal  thus  with  me,  kill  me  I  pray  Thee 
out  of  hand,  and  let  me  not  see  my  wretched- 
ness."     What  a  sigh  is  there  ! 

'  Eccles.  i. — ix.  '  Num.  xi.  II — 15. 

K 


130 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  iv. 


Gideon  was  a  man  full  of  faith,  yet  he  cried, 
"  O  my  Lord,  if  the  Lord  be  with  us,  why  then 
is  all  this  befallen  us  ?  But  now  the  Lord  hath 
forsaken  us,  and  delivered  us  into  the  hands  of 
the  Midianites."  '    What  a  sigh  is  there  ! 

There  never  breathed  a  more  dauntless  pro- 
phet than  Elijah,  yet  he  sat  under  a  juniper 
tree  in  the  wilderness,  and  requested  for  himself 
that  he  might  die  ;  and  said,  "  It  is  enough 
now,  O  Lord,  take  away  my  life  ;  for  I  am  not 
better  than  my  fathers. "  "  How  deep  a  sigh  is 
there!  And  Job  was  patient,  yet  under  the 
pitiless  storm  of  sickness  and  suffering  even 
Job  broke  down  and  cursed  the  day  of  his 
birth.3  And  Jeremiah  had  schooled  into  bravery 
his  natural  diffidence,  yet  when  Pashur  smote 
him  and  put  him  in  the  stocks,  he  too  burst  into 
the  wild  cry,  "  Wherefore  came  I  forth  out  of  the 
womb  to  see  labour  and  sorrow,  that  my  day, 
should  be  consumed  with  shame?"*  And  do 
we  not  seem  to  hear  the  sigh  of  even  the  mighty 

'  Judg.  vi.  13.  "  I  Kings  xi.\.  4. 

5  Job  iii.  I.  4  Jer.  xx.  14-18. 


SERM.  IV.]       WINGS  OF  A  DOVE.  131 


Baptist,  from  his  cell  in  the  black  dungeon  of 
Makor,  when  he  sent  to  ask  Jesus, — then  in 
the  gladness  of  His  Galilean  spring, — "Art 
thou  He  that  should  come,  or  do  we  look  for 
another  ?  Nay,  even  Paul,  though  nothing  can 
wring  such  sighs  from  that  indomitable  soul,  is 
yet  in  a  strait  betwixt  two,  and  knows  that  "  to 
depart  and  to  be  with  Christ  is  very  far  better. 

Here  then  you  have  the  weariness  and  dis- 
couragement of  the  noblest  of  mankind.  It  is 
not  generally  because  of  personal  suffering,  but 
either  because  the  world  is  evil — "  Mine  eyes 
burst  out  with  water  because  men  keep  not 
Thy  law":  3 — or  because  life  is  full  of  trials, 
"  Few  and  evil  have  the  days  of  the  years 
of  my  life  been,  and  have  not  attained  unto 
the  days  of  the  years  of  the  life  of  my 
fathers  in  the  days  of  their  pilgrimage":'' — 01 
because  work  is  very  dreary,  and  seems  to 
fail,  "  Since  I  came  to  Pharaoh  to  speak  in 

'  Matt.  xi.  3. 

'  Phil.  i.  23.    ■jro\\(f  ftaWof  Kpeiu-Tou. 

3  Ps.  cxix.  136  ;  Jer.  xiii.  17  ;  Phil.  iii.  18. 

*  Gen.  xlvii.  9;  Ps.  xxxix.  12. 

K  2 


132 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  iv. 


Thy  name,  he  hath  done  evil  to  Thy  people  ; 
neither  hast  Thou  delivered  Thy  people  at  all." ' 
Yes,  all  good  men  have  had  to  fight  with 
impenetrable  stupidity,  and  hard  Pharisaism, 
and  dominant  wickedness,  and  religious  and 
irreligious  self-conceit.  And  so  the  whole 
Bible  is  full  of  sighs.  And  what  are  they, 
in  good  men  (for  of  the  devil's  martyrs  I  shall 
to-day  take  no  account),  but  different  forms 
of  that  agony  of  the  Cross,  which,  on  the 
awful  brink  of  a  lonely  death,  bearing  the 
mysterious  burden  of  the  sins  of  the  whole 
world,  broke  forth  into  that  momentary  wail 
of  utter  agony,  Eli,  Eli,  lama  sabachthani — 
"  My  God,  my  God,  why  hast  Thou  forsaken 
me  ?" 

Now,  my  brethren,  one  of  the  elements  in 
Scripture  which  makes  it  so  inestimably  valuable 
is  that  it  is  so  essentially  human,  and  so  pro- 
foundly true  to  nature  ;  so  inartificial,  so  simple, 
sensuous,  passionate,  as  all  true  history  and  all 
true  poetry  should  be.     These  kings,  heroes, 

'  Ex.  V.  23. 


SERM.  IV.  J       WINGS  OF  A  DOVE. 


133 


prophets  were  just  such  men  as  ourselves  ;  their 
hearts  beating  like  our  hearts  ;  their  joys  and 
sorrows,  their  hopes  and  fears,  even  such  as  ours. 
This  same  sense  of  weariness,  and  discourage- 
ment, and  willingness  to  die,  we  find  in  secular 
history  :  we  find  it  in  literature  ;  we  find  it  in 
our  own  souls.  It  is  a  part  of  our  life.  We  get 
tired.  We  are  tired  of  the  daily  sameness  of 
life.  The  rivers  run  into  the  sea,  .yet  the  sea  is 
not  full."  The  eyes  of  man  are  never  satisfied. 
We  are  tired  of  the  hungry  grave,  crying  like  the 
daughters  of  the  horseleech,  "Give,  give";  ^  tired 
of  the  unrelenting  past ;  of  the  dreary  present  ;  of 
the  uncertain  future.  We  are  tired  of  the  weary 
struggle  in  our  own  hearts  ;  the  to-and-fro  con- 
flicting waves  of  impulse  and  repression  ;  3  the 
broad  rejoicing  tides  of  spiritual  emotion,  and 
the  flat  oozy  shores  of  ebbing  enthusiasm.  Who 
would  not  cry  with  the  poor  old  Scotchwoman 
"  O  it's  a  sair  sight,"  as  he  stands  in  the  wynds 
of  Glasgow,  or  the  cellars  of  Liverpool,  or  the 
slums  of  London  }    Yes,  it's  "  a  sair  sight,"  this 

■  Eccl.  i.  7.  '  Prov.  XXX.  15.  3  Rom.  vii.  14-25. 


134 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  iv. 


scum  and  sand  in  the  impure  fringe  of  the 
glittering  wave  of  civilisation.  The  old  historian 
said  that  no  man  had  ever  lived  without  coming 
to  a  day  in  his  life  when  he  cared  nothing  if  he 
were  to  see  no  morrow.  Again  and  again  we 
feel  inclined  to  cry  with  the  sad  thinker,  at  the 
end  of  another  self-reproaching  year,  "  Eternity, 
be  thou  my  refuge  !  " »  Men  whose  lives  have 
been  devoted  to  pleasure  feel  it. 

"  Through  life's  drear  road,  so  dim  and  dirty, 
I  have  dragged  on  to  three-and-thirty  ; 
What  have  those  years  brought  to  me  ? 
Nothing  except  thirty-three  ;  " 

so  wrote  Lord  Eyron. 

A  godless  experience  curdles  at  once  into 
acrid  pessimism.  It  is  the  philosophy  at  this 
moment  of  many  materialists, — the  sour  un- 
wholesome sediment  left  in  souls  from  which 
all  hope  has  evaporated.  It  is  Schopenhauer, 
saying  that  our  condition  is  so  utterly  wretched, 
that   total  annihilation  would  be   preferable  ; 

'  "  Atei  tiitJ,  dcviens  inon  asile  !"  These  words  were  inscribed 
by  his  own  request  on  the  tomb  of  Senancour. 


SERM.  IV.]       WINGS  OF  A  DOVE. 


that  the  existence  of  the  world  is  a  matter  of 
grief,  and  a  fundamental  misfortune.  Such 
words  arc  the  defiant  curse  of  deliberate  un- 
belief; but  if  this  life  were  everything,  many 
would  say  the  same.  We  find  this  hopelessness 
and  dissatisfaction  in  every  rank.  Now  it  is 
Diocletian  declaring  that  planting  cabbages  at 
Salona  is  better  than  ruling  the  world  in  By- 
zantium.' Now  it  is  Severus  saying  he  has  been 
everything,  from  a  common  peasant  to  a  vic- 
torious emperor,  and  nothing  is  of  any  good.^ 
Now  it  is  Abderrahman  the  Magnificent,  record- 
ing that  in  his  life  he  has  had  but  fourteen 
happy  days.3  Now  it  is  St.  Augustine  saying, 
"Let  a  man  consider  the  sources  of  his  happi- 
ness, and  if  it  will  abide  with  him  alway  :  if  not 
it  is  of  the  streams  of  Babylon,  let  him  sit  down 
by  it  and  weep."  Now  it  is  St.  Bernard  saying 
of  human  life  that  its  beginning  is  blindness, 
its  continuance  toil,  its  sum-total  emptiness, 
"  Initium  caecitas,  progrcssio  labor,  omnia  vanitas. 

'  Gibbon  (ed.  Mihnaii),  i.  399. 

"  "  Omnia  fui  ct  nihil  expeait." — Hist.  Aug. 

3  Gibbon,  V.  196. 


136 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  iv. 


Now  it  is  Petrarch  saying,  "I  see  not  what 
anything  in  the  world  can  give  me  save  tears." 
Now  it  is  Richard  Hooker  saying,  "I  have 
lived  to  see  that  the  world  is  made  up  of  per- 
turbations, and  have  been  long  preparing  to 
leave  it."  Now  it  is  Luther  saying,  "  I  am 
weary  of  life  if  this  can  be  called  life.  There 
is  nothing  which  would  give  me  pleasure  ;  I  am 
utterly  weary.  I  pray  that  the  Lord  will  come 
forthwith,  and  carry  me  home."  Now  it  is 
Whitefield  saying,  "  Lord,  I  am  weary  not  of 
Thy  work,  but  in  Thy  work.  Let  me  speak  for 
Thee  once  more,  then  seal  Thy  truth  and  die." 
So  then  History,  the  life-histories  of  men,  are 
full  of  these  sad  sighs. 

And  so  too  is  literature.  We  hear  the  sigh 
in  Shakespeare's  famous  sonnet, 

"  Tired  with  all  these,  for  restless  death  I  cry.' 
It  is  Cowpcr's, 

"  O  for  a  lodge  in  some  vast  wilderness. 
Some  boundless  contiguity  of  shade, 
Where  rumour  of  oppression  and  deceit, 
Of  unsuccessful  and  successful  war, 
Might  never  reach  me  more." 


SERM.  IV.]       WINGS  OF  A  DGVE. 


137 


It  is  Shelley's, 

",  I  could  lie  down  like  a  tired  child, 
And  weep  away  this  life  of  care." 

"  Sir,  are  you  truly  conscious  of  the  greatness 
of  God  "  said  a  forward,  uninvited  clergyman 
who  thrust  himself  by  the  bedside  of  Montes- 
quieu when  his  own  clergyman  had  left  him. 
"  Yes,"  said  the  dying  philosopher,  "  and  of 
the  littleness  of  man,"  and  so  he  died.  And 
what  a  sigh  was  there  ! 

In  yonder  transept  lie  buried  the  mortal  bodies 
of  two  great  moralists.  They  knew  the  world 
well  ;  they  had  seen  life  in  all  its  phases  ;  they 
were  eminently  successful  ;  they  gained  large 
wealth  ;  they  were  universally  honoured.  One 
would  have  said  that  to  these  two,  to  Charles 
Dickens  and  William  Thackeray,  life  had  given 
some  of  its  best  gifts.  What  was  their  experi- 
ence "  Life,"  said  Dickens,  "  seems  to  me  the 
saddest  dream  that  was  ever  dreamed."  "  Vmiitas 
vanitatuin"  such  arc  the  words  with  which 
Thackeray  ended  his  most  fainous  work  of 
fiction  ;  "  which  of  us  is  happy  in  this  world  ? 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  iv. 


which  of  us  has  what  he  desires,  or  having 
it  is  satisfied  ? " 

All  these,  and  hundreds  more,  are  sighs  wrung 
from  that  inexorable  weariness,  which,  as  the 
great  Bossuet  said,  lies  at  the  bases  of  our  life. 
None  have  better  expressed  it,  and  expressed  at 
the  same  time  the  thoughts  which  should  be  the 
remedy  for  all  that  is  not  permissible  in  the 
permanent  indulgence  of  such  emotions,  than 
that  brave  and  good  man  who  was,  for  a  time 
too  brief  for  us,  and  too  brief  for  the  world,  a 
Canon  of  this  Abbey, ^ — Charles  Kingsley.  He 
sings  how  once,  on  the  merry  Christmas-eve, 
he  went  sighing  over  the  moorland — 

"  O  never  sin,  and  want,  and  woe,  this  earth  will  leave, 
And  the  bells  but  mock  the  wailing  round  they  ring  so 
cheery, 

How  long,  O  Lord,  before  Thou  come  again  ?  " — 

And  how  such  despairing  thoughts  were 
rebuked  by  the  joyous  clamour  of  the  wild 
fowl  on  the  mere,  reminding  him  of  God. 
And  again,  in  the  sweet  verses — 


SERM.  IV.]       WINGS  OF  A  DOVE.  139 


"  Wild,  wild  wind,  wilt  thou  never  cease  thy  sighing, 
Dark,  dark  ni;^ht,  wilt  thou  never  wear  away  ? 
Cold,  c  )ld  church,  in  thy  death-sleep  lying. 

Thy  Lent  is  past,  thy  Passion  here,  but  not  thine  Easter 
Day." 

"  Peace,  faint  heart,  tho'  the  night  be  dark  and  sighing; 
Rest,  fair  corpse,  where  thy  Lord  Himself  hath  lain ; 
Weep,  dear  Lord,  above  Thy  bride  low  lying. 

Thy  tears  shall  wake  her  frozen  limbs  to  life  and  health 
again." 

The  Arab  proverb  say.s,  my  friends,  that  the 
remembrance  of  youth  is  a  sigh ;  might  we  not 
ahnost  say  that  the  epitome  and  epitaph  of  all 
human  Hfe.but  for  the  faith  in  something  beyond 
it,  would  be  a  sigh  }  To-day,  this  day  of  the 
massacre  of  the  Holy  Innocents,  is  the  anni- 
versary of  the  founding,  814  years  ago,  of  this 
mighty  Minster  (oh!  that  we  may  always  love 
and  cherish  it !)  by  Edward  the  Confessor.  Rich 
with  the  accumulated  records  of  eight  centuries 
of  English  life,  is  it  not,  for  all  who  know 
rightly  how  to  read  its  lessons,  an  unmistakable 
memorial  of  the  sum-total  of  human  experience 
Look  up  at  these  vaulted  roofs,  hung  so  high 
over  our  heads,  and  see,  how  there,  and  in  the 


140 


EPHPHATHA,  [serm.  iv. 


gloom  of  the  great  aisles,  these  twinkling  lights 
seem  to  be  swallowed  up  and  lost  in  mysterious 
gloom.    Such  too  is  human  life.    And  yet — 

"  They  dreamt  not  of  a  perishable  home 
Who  thus  could  build." 

And  the  very  shadows  seem  to  tell  us  of  the  faith 
of  our  fathers,  that  though  "  clouds  and  dark- 
ness are  round  about  Him,  yet  righteousness 
and  judgment  are  the  habitation  of  His  seat." 
And  while  the  Abbey  thus  prophesies  to  us  of 
a  hope  for  all  who  will  embrace  it  beyond  the 
grave,  how  do  its  records  seem  to  sum  up  the 
sadness  and  the  evanescence  of  every  aim  on 
the  hither  side  of  it !  Great  men,  and  rich  men, 
and  successful  men,  and  princes  and  warriors  lie 
buried  here.  Why,  the  whole  book  of  Ecclesi- 
astes  seems  to  be  written  on  these  walls  and  on 
these  graves  ! '  To  the  sensual,  to  the  selfish,  to 
the  bitter  Pharisee,  to  the  moilers  for  gold,  they 
say,  "  Soon,  soon  thy  soul — that  soul  which  thou 

'  See  the  beautiful  lecture  by  the  late  Canon  Kingsley  on 
Westminster  Abbey,  among  his  American  lectures. 


SERM.  IV.]       WINGS  OF  A  DOVE.  141 


art  suffering  to  be  blighted  with  the  ignorance  of 
loveless  self-sufficiency,  to  be  eaten  away  with 
the  leprosy  of  pleasureless  iniquity — soon,  soon 
shall  it  be  required  of  thee."  To  the  wiser  and 
nobler  they  say,  "  Not  here  !  no  rest  here  \  no 
peace !  no  satisfaction,  save  such  as  righteous- 
ness and  faith  can  give."  Look  round  you,  my 
friends ;  many  of  you  in  that  north  transept  are 
sitting  on  graves  which,  more  thickly  than  any 
other  spot  in  the  world,  hold  the  relics  of 
England's  greatest  dead.  Beneath  your  feet 
lie  the  mortal  bodies  of  Chatham,  of  Pitt,  of 
Fox,  of  Canning,  of  Castlereagh,  of  Grattan,  of 
Wilberforce,  of  Palmerston.  Do  you  think  that 
they  never  longed  for  the  wings  of  a  dove,  to  flee 
away  and  be  at  rest }  Chatham,  with  his  brain 
so  often  clouded,  his  body  so  often  tortured 
by  disease  ;  Pitt,  dying  of  a  heart  broken  with 
sorrows  and  anxieties  ;  Castlereagh,  perishing  by 
his  own  hand,  and  buried  amid  shouts  of  execra- 
tion, wdiich  not  even  death  could  extinguish ; 
Canning,  sinking  to  the  grave  amid  the  shafts  of 
an  envenomed  personality      And  if  these  were 


142 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  iv. 


often  discouraged  and  \vear\',  would  not  the 
shades  of  the  poets  sigh  back  to  them  in  anti- 
phon  from  yonder  southern  transept  ?  Chaucer, 
weeping  too  late  for  the  wanton  writings  of 
his  youth  ;  Spenser,  bewailing  the  sickness  of 
hope  deferred  ;  Butler,  whose  monument  was 
given  lest  he  who  in  life  wanted  bread,  in 
death  should  lack  a  stone;  Milton 

"On  evil  days  though  fallen,  and  evil  tongues; 
111  darliness,  and  with  dangers  compas^ed  round, 
And  solitude." 

And  if  the  poets  and  the  statesmen  should 
say  to  the  troubled  kings  and  unhappy  queens 
of  yonder  royal  tombs,  "  Are  ye  too  become 
weak  as  we,  are  ye  become  like  unto  us  ? " 
would  tliey  not  answer,  "Think  not  that  we 
were  exempted  from  the  common  lot  of  sorrow 
and  disappointment  "  ?  Would  not  Edward  the 
Third  so  answer,  "  mighty  victor,  mighty  lord," 
from  his  plundered  and  deserted  death- 
bed ?  And  Richard  the  Second  from  the 
murderous  gloom  of  Pomfret  Castle  ?  And 
the   Queen   of   Scots    from    her    scaffold  at 


SERM.  IV.]       WINGS  OF  A  DOVE.  143 


Fotheringay  ?  And  Elizabeth  with  her  worn 
and  broken  heart  ?  Ah,  does  not  this  Abbey, 
with  its  800  years  of  varied  history,  confirm  the 
truth  which  we  learn  from  Scripture,  that  the 
air  of  human  life  is  tremulous  with  sighs  ? 

6.  Well,  my  brethren,  it  always  seems  to  me 
worth  while  to  recognise  facts  ;  to  bring  them 
out  into  the  full  light  of  consciousness,  to  look 
them  in  the  face.  And  this  being  the  fact 
respecting  human  life  which  we  have  to  face, 
where  is  the  remedy  ?  what  are  we  to  do  ? 

The  great  resource  in  every  perplexity  is  to 
look  to  Christ.  If  we  look  to  our  Great  Example 
we  shall  see  that  He  too,  even  He  was  forced  to 
sigh  for  the  sad  world  of  sin  and  death ;  but 
notice  that  the  sigh  had  scarcely  been  uttered 
when  once  more  He  was  engaged  in  works  of 
mercy  and  thoughtful  care.  To  sigh  is  some- 
times natural ;  but  to  waste  time  in  sighing,  to 
suffer  ourselves  to  be  wholly  absorbed  in  the 
dark  side  of  life,  to  exclude  ourselves  from  its 
many  and  simple  gladnesses,  is  unthankful  and 
useless.     However  hard  the   struggle  against 


144 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  iv. 


intolerance,  and  bigotry,  against  stupidity  and 
malice,  against  robbery  and  wrong,  no  good 
and  brave  life  will  ever  suffer  itself  to  be 
crippled  by  conquerable  melancholy.  If  we 
sigh  for  our  own  weaknesses  and  sins,  we  can- 
not indeed  fly  from  ourselves,  but  we  can  by 
the  grace  of  God  amend  ourselves.  If  we  sigh 
for  our  surroundings,  no  wings  of  a  dove  indeed, 
can  take  us  from  these  dwellings  of  Meshech, 
these  tents  of  Kedar,  but  by  God's  grace  we  may 
help  to  make  them  better  and  happier  places. 
For,  after  all,  at  all  times  of  our  pilgrimage — 

"  The  primal  duties  shine  aloft  like  stars, 

And  charities  that  soothe,  and  heal,  and  bless. 
Lie  scattered  at  the  feet  of  man  like  flowers." 

The  lessons  of  Scripture,  the  lessons  of  the  life 
of  Christ,  the  lessons  of  this  Abbey,  alike  teach 
us  to  labour  and  to  wait ;  they  combine  to  tell 
us  that  to  every  one  of  us  alike,  for  sorrow  and 
disaster,  for  weariness  and  discouragement,  God 
has  given  us  four  great  and  perfect  remedies.  On 
these  let  me  say  a  very  few  last  words. 

i.  One  remedy  is  Action:  God  taught  it  to- 


sERM.  IV.]       WINGS  OF  A  DOVE.  145 


Moses,  "  Wherefore  criest  thou  unto  me  ?  speak 
to  the  children  of  Israel  that  they  go  for- 
ward." '  While  there  is  anything  to  be  done  the 
time  given  to  inactive  sorrow  is  worse  than  wasted. 
Sorrow  may  take  from  life  its  delights ;  but 
thank  God  it  can  never  take  its  duties.  At  the 
lowest  ebb  of  dejection  we  still  have  much  to 
do  ;  and  "  that  man  is  very  strong  and  powerful, 
who  has  no  more  hope  for  himself;  who  looks 
not  to  be  loved  any  more  ;  to  be  admired  any 
more ;  to  have  any  more  honour  or  dignity  ;  and 
who  cares  not  for  gratitude  ;  but  whose  sole 
thoughts  is  for  others,  and  who  only  lives  for 
them. "  ^  The  wings  of  a  dove  — nay,  my  breth- 
ren, let  us  rather  long  for  the  wings  of  an  eagle 
to  fly  in  the  path  of  God's  commandments  ;  let  us, 
with  the  ancient  Rabbi,  pray  that  we  may  be 
bold  as  a  leopard,  swift  as  an  eagle,  bounding  as 

'  Ex.  xiv.  15.  "  '  My  beloved  are  sinking  in  the  sea,  and  tho7i 
art  making  long  prayers,'  said  the  Holy  One— blessed  be  He— 
to  Moses.  Moses  asked,  '  What  then  shall  I  do  ?  '  The  Lord 
said  unto  Moses,  '  Speak  unto  the  children  of  Israel,  that  they 
go  forward.'" — Sotah,  f.  37,  c. 

'  Sir  A.  Helps,  Rcalniah. 

L 


146 


E  PHP  HA  THA .  [s  erm.  iv. 


a  stag,  brave  as  a  lion,  to  do  the  will  of  our  Father 
in  heaven.'  "  Let  me  work  on,"  said  Mendelssohn ; 
"  for  me  too  the  hour  of  rest  will  come."  "  Doe  the 
next  thynge," — what  a  grand  motto  that  was ! 
And  that  was  a  good  motto,  Repos  ailleurs. 
Work  here,  rest  is  elsewhere ;  wipe  thy  tears  ; 
cease  thy  sighing  ;  do  thy  work.  "  The  day  is 
short  ;  the  work  abundant ;  the  labourers  are  re- 
miss ;  the  reward  is  great ;  the  Master  presses."  = 
ii.  And  the  remedy  is  Patience.  God  is  patient. 
"  Paticns  quia  aeiernus."  His  great  ones  are 
slandered  every  day  by  earth's  little,  and  His  wise 
men  judged  by  fools,  and  "  He  makes  no  ado." 
His  name  is  blasphemed,  His  character  often 
hideously  misrepresented  by  those  who  profess 
to  teach  in  His  name.  He  bears  it  all.  He  has 
borne  with  man's  falsehood,  and  littleness,  and 
disobedience,  for  no  one  knows  how  many 
thousand  years.  Cannot  we  too  wait If 
we  do  well  and  suffer  for  it,  can  we  not  take 
it  patiently  .^3    "Patient  continuance  in  well 

'  Pcsachim,  f.  113,  3.  =  Pirke  Abhoth.\\. 

3  I  Pet.  ii.  20. 


SERM.  IV.]       WINGS  OF  A  DOVE.  147 


doing,"  there  is  a  grand  remedy  for  idle  tears.' 
"  O  rest  in  the  Lord  and  abide  patiently  upon 
Him;  for  they  that  patiently  abide  the  Lord, 
those  shall  inherit  the  land."  ^ 

And  the  remedy  is  Faii/i.  Jesus  as  He  sighed 
looked  up  towards  heaven.  "  Two  things  alone 
can  finally  cure  the  malady  of  occasional 
depression — they  are  God  and  death."  3  Faith 
looks  up  hopefully  to  God  ;  Hope  looks  for- 
ward fearlessly  to  death.  Is  our  sigh  for  our 
own  work  ?  "  O  cast  thy  burden  on  the  Lord, 
and  He  shall  sustain  thee."  Is  our  sigh  for  the 
world  ?  We  did  not  make  the  world,  and  He 
who  made  it  will  guide.  One  day,  when  St. 
Francis  was  laying  before  God  his  troubles  and 
disquietudes,  the  answer  came  to  him,  "  Why 
dost  thou  trouble  thyself,  poor  little  man  I 
who  made  thee   the   shepherd   of  my  order, 

'  Rom.  ii.  7. 

'  Ps.  xxxvii.  7.  Tatient  duty  and  "waiting  upon  God  "are 
again  and  again  inculcated  in  Scripture.  .See  Ps.  kii.  I  ;  Prov. 
XX.  22  ;  Is.  XXX  IS  ;  Gal.  vi.  9  ;  Heb.  x.  36,  &c. 

3  Lacordaire. 

*  Ps.  Iv.  22. 

L  2 


148 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  iv. 


knowest  thou  not  that  I  am  its  supreme 
protector  ?  If  those  whom  I  have  called 
succumb,  I  will  put  others  in  their  place,  and  if 
none  existed  I  would  cause  them  to  be  born." 
"  I  cannot  mend  the  world,"  said  Luther  ;  "  if  I 
thought  that  I  could,  I  should  be  the  veriest 
ass  alive.    Thou  must  do  it,  oh  my  God." 

Action,  Patience,  Faith  ;  lastly,  the  remedy  is 
Hope.  "  It  is  good  that  a  man  should  both  hope 
and  quietly  wait  for  the  salvation  of  the  Lord."  ' 
"  The  worst  of  evils,"  says  the  French  proverb, 
"  are  those  that  never  come."  =  Things  are 
rarely  as  bad  as  they  look  to  us.  Elijah  cries, 
"  I,  even  I  only  am  left  ;  "  3  and  God  tells  him 
that  He  has  7,000,  who  have  not  bowed  the 
knee  to  Baal.  The  young  man  is  terror-stricken 
in  besieged  Dothan,  and  Elisha  shows  him  the 
whole  mountain  full  of  the  protecting  chariots  of 
fire.*    If  we  be  true  and  faithful,  then  rightly 

■  Lam.  iii.  26. 

=  Zes  mai/u-urs  des  malheurs  sont  ceux  qui  n'arriveni  jamais. 
3  I  Kings  xix.  lo. 

<  2  Kings  vi.  17.  Comp.  2  Chr.  xxxii.  7;  Ps.  Iv.  18;  xxxiv. 
7;  Ixviii.  17;  Matt,  xxvi  53. 


SERM.  IV.]      WINGS  OF  A  DOVE.  149 


considered,  our  very  trials  and  sorrows  are  the 
proofs  and  pledges  to  us  of  a  better  world 
beyond,  and  of  a  time  when  God  shall  finish  His 
own  work.  Shall  the  great  housekeeper  of  the 
world  fodder  His  cattle  and  water  His  flowers, 
and  prune  his  plants  and  not  feed  His  children  ? ' 

"  Man's  grief  is  but  his  grandeur  in  disguise, 
And  discontent  is  immortality."  " 

7.  And  surely  for  those  who  believe  in  their 
Saviour  at  all,  this  season  tells  of  Hope.  We 
have  been  bending  in  imagination  over  the 
Saviour's  cradle,  we  have  been  listening  to  the 
angel  songs.  Do  those  songs  seem  to  mock  us 
with  false  hopes,  since  God's  glory  is  not  mani- 
fested fully,  and  there  is  little  peace  on  earth  ] 
Ah,  my  brethren,  tliis  hope  at  least  was  not 
frustrated — that  to  us  was  born  a  Saviour,  which 
is  Christ  the  Lord.  He  conquered  death,  and 
because  He  broke  its  dominion,  it  can  have  no 
dominion  over  us.  One  day,  not  far  hence,  we 
too  shall  have  the  wings  of  a  dove.    Though  we 

'  Trapp,  New  Test.  '  Young. 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  iv. 


have  lien  among  earth's  shards,  yet  at  death,  if 
we  be  God's  children,  shall  we  be  as  the  wings  of 
a  dove,  which  is  covered  with  silver  wings,  and 
her  feathers  like  gold.'  And  meanwhile,  till 
that  day  comes,  if  wc  cannot  have  the  wings  of 
a  dove,  we  can  have  in  our  very  hearts  the  spirit 
of  Christ,  which  is  a  dovelike  spirit. "  That  dove 
cannot  fly  in  unclean  places  ;  it  cannot  rest  upon 
unholy  brows  ;  but  if  we  cleanse  our  hearts,  it 
will  find  a  shelter  with  us,  and  brood  tenderly 
over  the  storms  of  life.  We  are  told  that  while 
yet  the  waters  of  the  deluge  weighed  upon  the 
drowning  world,  the  dove  flew  back  to  the  ark 
"  and  lo  !  in  her  mouth  an  olive  leaf  plucked 
off !  "3  The  olive  leaf  is  bitter,  but  it  is  a  sign 
of  peace,  and  the  Jewish  legend  tells  that  "  the 
dove  said  before  the  Holy  One,  blessed  be  He ! 
'  Lord  of  the  Universe  !  let  my  food  be  bitter  as 
an  olive,  delivered  by  Thy  hands,  rather  than 
sweet  as  honey  delivered  by  the  hands  of  flesh 

'  Psalm  Ixviii.  13. 

"  Spirilus  Jesu,  spiritus  columbinus. — Bacon. 
'  Gen.  viii.  11. 


SERM.  IV.]       WINGS  OF  A  DOVE.  151 


and  blood.'  " '  My  friends,  however  much  the 
deluge  may  welter  round  us,  that  Holy  Hea- 
venly Dove  of  Peace — 

"  Sweet  dove,  the  softest,  steadiest  plume. 
In  all  the  sunbright  sky  ; 
Brightening  in  ever  changeful  bloom. 
As  breezes  change  on  high," — 

is  ready  to  descend  into  our  hearts  and  rest 
therein.  And  if  the  plucked  leaf,  which  she 
bears  to  us  from  God  in  heaven,  seem  bitter  to 
us,  yet  none  the  less  is  it  a  leaf  of  the  Tree  of 
Life, — a  green  leaf  from  that  tree  "  whose  leaves 
are  for  the  healing  of  the  nations." 

'  Sanhedrin,  f.  lo8,  2.    (Comp.  Prov.  xxx.  8,  //ei.) 


SERMON  V. 

WORK  IN  THE  GROANING 
CREATION. 


WORK  IN  THE  GROANING  CREATION. 


"  Who  the  Creator  loves,  created  might 
Dreads  not." — Coleridge,  Religious  Musings. 

"  Infelix  homo  qui  scit  ilia  omnia,  Te  autem  nescit ;  beatus 
antem  qui  Te  scit  etiamsi  ilia  nesciat.  Qui  vero  et  Te  et  ilia 
novit,  non  propter  ilia  beatior,  sed  propter  Te  solum  beatus  est 
si  cognoscens  Te,  sicut  Deum  glorificet  et  gratias  agat,  et  non 
evanescat  in  cogitationibus  suis." — Aug.  Conf.  v.  4. 

"  We  live  in  a  world  which  is  full  of  misery  and  ignorance, 
and  the  plain  duty  of  each  and  all  of  us  is  to  try  and  make  the 
little  corner  he  can  influence  somewhat  less  miserable  and  some- 
what less  ignorant  than  it  was  before  he  entered  it."— Huxley, 
Lay  Sermons,  p.  159. 


O  Almighty  and  most  merciful  God,  of  Thy  bountiful  good, 
ness  keep  us,  we  beseech  Thee,  from  all  things  that  may  hurt  us, 
that  we  being  ready,  both  in  body  and  mind,  may  cheerfully 
accomplish  those  things  that  Thou  wouldest  have  done,  through 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  Amen. 


SERMON  V. 


WORK  IN  THE  GROANING  CREA  TION. 
Gen.  I.  31. 

"And  God  saw  everything  that  He  had  made,  and  behold  it  was 
very  good." 

KoM.  VIII.  22. 

"For  we  knoT.0  that  the  whole  creation  groaneth  and  travaileth 
in  pai7i  together  until  now. "  ' 

Rev.  xxn.  3. 
"And  there  shall  be  no  more  curse." 

I.  In  those  three  texts,  my  brethren,  you  have 
the  past,  the  present,  the  future  of  our  earth; 

■  The  Greek  of  the  verse  is  olSa/jL^y  yao  Sti  -naaa  -q  ktiVis 
avartva^d  ^XP'  ^oO  vvv.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  English  version 
is  right  in  rendering  ktI^is  here  by  "  creation."  The  same  word 
is  used  indeed  in  Marli  xvi.  15  and  Col.  i.  23,  vhere  it  is  rendered 
"to  every  creature,"  because  in  these  passages  the  reference  is 
mainly  to  mankind  ;  and  some  have  argued  that  in  this  passage 


158  EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  v. 

what  was,  what  is,  what  shall  be ;  the  perfect- 
ness  which  man  has  marred,  the  punishment 
which  he  is  enduring,  the  hope  to  which  he 
looks.  What  share  we  may  have  in  the  marring 
or  the  mending  of  this  our  transitory  dwelling, 
that  is  our  main  subject  to-day. 

We  have  been  considering  on  previous  Sundays 
the  sigh  of  Jesus  over  a  disordered  and  suffering 
world.  We  saw  that  it  was  a  sigh  wrung  from 
the  spirit  of  eternal  compassion,  and  yet  that  not 
for  one  moment  did  it  stay  the  course  of  holy 
beneficence.  We  saw  further  that  every  good 
man  must  feel  for  the  miseries  which  caused 
that  sigh  ;  that  by  our  love  to  God  and  to  His 
Christ  we  are  bound  to  share  in  the  work  which 

the  attribution  to  inanimate  nature,  or  to  the  unintelligent  crea- 
tion of  earnest  "expectation"  (apokaradokia,  " looking  eagerly 
with  outstretched  head  "),  and  intense  absorption  in  sorrowful 
yearning,  would  be  too  strong  and  poetical.  It  differs,  however, 
but  little  from  the  Scripture  language  (Ps.  xcviii.  7  ;  Is.  xxxv.  i  ; 
Hos.  ii.  21,  &c.)  with  which  St.  Paul  had  been  familiar  from 
his  childhood,  and  must  be  taken  to  express  the  longings  of 
nature  in  its  present  disordered  condition  (in  which,  as  an  old 
divine  says,  it  represents,  not  a  stasis  but  an  apostasis),  for  the 
manifestation  of  a  glory  and  liberty  which  have  been  promised, 
but  which  are  still  in  the  future  (2  Pet.  iii.  to-13). 


SERM.  v.]    GROANING  CREATION.  159 


may  alleviate  those  miseries ;  that  the  chief 
cause  of  them  all  is  sin  ;  that  therefore  the  first 
and  best  conditions  of  true  work  for  Christ  are 
personal  innocence  and  personal  holiness  ;  that 
they  who,  in  one  form  or  other,  have  devoted 
their  lives  to  this  great  work  of  amelioration 
have  been  amongst  the  noblest  of  mankind. 
We  saw  further  that  they  who  sliare  Christ's 
work  must  also  share  His  sorrow,  but  that  for 
the  deep  weariness  and  discouragement  which 
besets  all  life,  even  in  the  midst  of  such  efforts 
as  these,  the  divinely  appointed  remedies  are 
Action  and  Patience,  Faith  and  Hope.  Surely, 
my  friends,  if  we  have  tried  to  grasp  these 
thoughts,  they  are  not  questionable,  not  ignoble 
thoughts,  but  such  as  may  inspire  our  own  lives, 
and  irradiate  with  a  glow  of  brighter  happiness 
the  lives  of  those  around  us.  Is  it  not  an  in- 
spiring and  cheering  thought  to  regard  our  life 
as  a  term  of  service  in  the  high  cause  of  God, 
and  ourselves  as  "  co-operant  units"  in  His  vast 
designs It  is  not,  of  course,  possible  in  a  few 
sermons  to  deal  systematically  with  the  whole 


i6o 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  v. 


of  this  great  subject,  nor  is  it  necessary  to  work 
out  all  its  details.  Tlie  details  are  best  left  to  the 
individual  conscience,  which  will  direct  us  how 
to  turn  to  best  profit  in  God's  service  the  separate 
gifts  of  each  of  us.  But  surely  tJie  ideal  is  a 
high  and  holy  one,  nor  could  we,  I  think,  either 
as  citizens  or  as  Christians,  have  better  ended 
the  old  year  and  begun  the  new,  than  by 
considering  thus  seriously  the  example  of  our 
Lord,  and  by  asking  the  aid  of  His  Holy  Spirit 
that  we  may  walk  in  His  steps,  bearing  humbly 
and  manfully  whatever  cross  He  may  see  fit  to 
send  us.  Not  to  despair  of  good  either  for 
ourselves  or  for  the  world  ;  not  to  acquiesce  in 
evil,  whether  the  world's  evil  or  our  own,  these 
alone  are  grand  lessons.  For  the  truest  men 
are  they  in  whose  bosom  there  burns  an  inex- 
tinguishable hope.  The  day  may  set  for  them, 
into  starless  night,  but  still  on  the  dark  horizon, 

"  Hope,  a  soaring  eagle,  burns 
Above  the  unrisen  morrow." 

Is  not  this  a  part  at  least  of  St.  Paul's  mean- 
ing when  he  says  that  "  We  are  saved  by 


SERM.  v.]    GROANING  CREATION.  i5i 


hope  "  ?•  What  was  the  very  heart  and  essence 
of  the  rehgion  of  Israel  for  2,000  years — let 
me  say  rather  of  the  religion  of  humanity 
itself  for  still  more  millenniums — but  a  fixed 
Messianic  hope?  Satan  has  defeated  us.  He 
has  lost  us  Paradise.  Yet,  even  at  the  moment 
of  the  lost  Paradise,  the  hope  was  granted 
that  we  should  one  day  crush  the  serpent's 
head.  We  have  plucked  the  bitter  fruit  of 
the  Tree  of  the  knowledge  of  evil,  yet  the 

'  Rom.  viii.  24.  (XviSt  ((ruBrifKv,  literally  "For  by 

(or  in)  hope"  (the  article  here  seems  to  be  generic)  "we  were 
saved."  It  is  true  that  Faith  not  Hope  is  always  put  forward  in 
Scripture  as  the  receptive  instrument  by  which  we  are  saved,  but 
hope,  as  Tholuck  says,  may  here  be  regarded  as  "faith  in  its 
prospective  attitude."  By  hope  we  appropriate  to  ourselves  and 
enjoy— to  the  great  support  and  ble-siiig  of  our  life— the  pro- 
mised salvation  which  we  embraced  through  faith  (comp.  Col.  i. 
23).  Again,  in  another  passage,  Luke  vii.  47,  Love  seems  to  be 
represented  as  the  main  element  in  being  forgiven,  so  that  all 
the  three  great  Christian  Virtues  appear  to  co  operate  as  instru- 
mental causes  in  our  enjoyment  of  the  benefits  won  for  us  by 
tlie  AtDning  work  of  Christ.  There  can  be  no  true  faith  without 
hope;  and  faith  works  by  love.  Spiritual  conditions  do  not 
admit  of  the  clear  sequence  of  earthly  events.  The  past  tense — 
"  we  were  saved  " — is  used  because  it  refers  backwards  to  the 
time  of  conversion. 


M 


l62 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  v. 


Tree  of  Life  still  stands  in  the  garden  of  God, 
and  it  was  a  legend  of  deep  meaning  which 
told  that  a  seed  of  that  tree  was  brought  to 
Adam,  and  that  from  it  sprang  that  other 
Tree  of  Life  from  which  the  Cross  was  made. 
And,  again,  what  is  the  religion  of  all  Chris- 
tians but  a  fixed  Messianic  hope  ?  The  Cross 
is  the  sign  of  eternal  conquest.  Is  it  the  sign 
of  conquest  for  ourselves  only  ?  dare  we  so 
confine  its  significance  ?  Is  its  divine  power 
to  be  dwarfed  into  the  narrowness  of  self- 
congratulation,  or  into  the  slightly  expanded 
egotism  which  shall  see  nothing  more  in 
Christ's  work  than  the  salvation  of  some  hand- 
ful of  a  Church,  or  some  fraction  of  a  sect  ? 
Are  we  to  eternise  and  deify 

The  sin  of  self,  who  in  the  universe, 
As  in  a  mirror  sees  her  fond  face  shown, 
And  crj'ing  'I '  would  have  the  world  say  '  I,' 
And  all  things  perish  so  "but  she  endure "  ? 

Not  so !  Christ  who  has  left  us  is  still  with  us  ; 
and  He  shall  return  again.  And  when  He 
returns,  He  shall  bruise  Satan  under  our  feet; 


SERM.  v.]    GROANING  CREATION.  163 

He  shall  restore  all  things,  He  shall  subdue 
even  the  last  enemy,  Death;  to  multitudes 
which  no  man  can  number,  gathered  from  east 
and  west,  and  north  and  south.  He  shall  bring 
joy  and  gladness,  and  sorrow  and  sighing  shall 
flee  away.' 

2.  We  have  seen  already  some  glimpses  at 
least  of  the  truth  that  actively  by  sympathy, 
by  thoughtfulness,  by  charity,  by  unselfishness, 
by  loving  one  another ; — that  even  passively  by 
abstaining  from  the  fashionable  and  universal 
vice  of  biting  and  devouring  one  another ; — we 
have  seen  that  by  honesty,  by  self-reverence, 
by  reverence  for  others,  by  obeying  the  golden 
rule  of  "  doing  unto  others  as  we  would  they 
should  do  unto  us,"  we  may  do  very  much  to 
limit  the  realm  of  sorrow,  and  to  substitute  a 
golden  for  an  iron  sceptre  in  its  sway  over 
human  hearts.  We  have  seen,  too,  that  our 
own  inevitable  trials  and  humiliations,— all  the 
'neglect,  all  the  insult,  all  the  weariness,  all  the 

'  Is.  XXXV.  10;  XXV.  8;  Hos.  xiii.  14;  Heb.  ii.  8,  14,  15; 
I  Cor.  XV.  24-28,  &c. 

M  2 


164 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  v. 


disappointment,  all  the  ingratitude,  which  may 
befall  us, — can  be  better  borne  if  we  be  cheerful 
and  active  in  doing  good.  Labour  for  God  is 
the  best  cure  for  sorrow,  and  the  best  occupation 
of  life,  even  as  the  old  poet  so  sweetly  sings,  if 
we  put  a  wider  and  a  spiritual  meaning  into  his 
words, 

"  Canst  drink  the  waters  of  the  crisped  spring? 

O  sweet  content ! 
Swim'st  thou  in  wealth,  yet  sink'st  in  thine  own  tears  ? 

O  punishment  ! 
Then  he  that  patiently  want's  burden  bears 
No  burden  bears,  but  is  a  king,  a  king  ! 
O  sweet  content !    O  sweet,  O  sweet  content ! 

Work  apace,  apace,  apace  ; 

Honest  labour  bears  a  lovely  face." 

Something  of  these  truths  we  have,  I  hope,  seen. 
But  can  we  to-day  push  the  inquiry  yet  further, 
and  learn  whether  it  is  in  our  power  in  any  way 
to  mend  the  flaw  which  runs  for  us  through  the 
material  world  ;  or  in  any  way  to  diminish  for 
ourselves  and  for  mankind  the  pressure  of  that 
vast  weight  of  laws  which  exercises  over  us, 
undoubtedly,  a  sway  of  awful  potency The 


SERM.  v.]    GROANING  CREATION.  165 


whole  creation  groaneth  and  travaileth  in  pain 
together  until  now ;  can  we — not  by  any  strength 
of  ours,  but  because  God  permits  and  desires  it, 
can  we  do  anything  to  hasten  that  blessed  hour 
for  which  we  wait — the  hour  of  the  new  creation ; 
of  the  adoption,  to  wit,  the  redemption  of  our 
body ;  of  the  restitution  of  all  things  ;  of  the 
Palingenesia  of  the  world  ? ' 

I  think  we  can.  I  know  that  the  supposed 
helplessness  of  man  is  a  favourite  topic  of 
modern  materialism,  which  makes  of  man  the 
irresponsible  tool  of  forces  which  he  cannot 
resist,  the  sport  and  prey  of  dumb  powers  which 
ire  alike  inexorable  and  passionless.  This 
philosophy — if  we  may  call  it  a  philosophy — 
laughs  to  scorn  the  notion  of  a  miracle,  and 
makes  virtue  and  vice  not  the  conscious  choice 
of  free  beings,  but  the  inevitable  result  of 
material  causes  and  hereditary  impulses,  of 
which  in  all  but  semblance,  we  are  the  mere  au- 
tomata and  slaves.    My  brethren,  into  all  these 

•  Rom.  vii.  23  ;  Acts  iii.  21 ;  Matt.  xix.  28 ;  2  Thess.  iii. 
13,  &c. 


i66 


EPHPHATHA. 


[SERiM.  V. 


speculations  of  a  baseless  atheism,  I  need  not 
enter.  To  us,  nature  means  nothing  but  the 
sum-total  of  phenomena  which  God  has  created  , 
and  since  in  the  idea  of  nature  is  included  the 
idea  of  God,  a  miracle  becomes  as  natural  and 
as  easily  conceivable  as  the  most  ordinary  occur- 
rence.' And  we  know  that  we  are  free,  that  God 
does  not  mock  us,  that  we  can  abhor  that 
which  is  evil,  and  cleave  to  that  which  is  good. 
The  laws  of  nature  are  nothing,  then,  for  us  but 
observed  sequences,  and  we  do  not  admit  that 
there  is  anything  fearful  in  their  uniformity.  It 
is  true  that  nature  drives  her  ploughshare  straight 
onwards,  and  heeds  not  what  may  be  lying  in 
the  furrow ;  it  is  true  that  therefore  she  shows 

'  "  The  soul  of  man  was  not  produced  by  heaven  and  earth, 
but  was  breathed  immediately  from  God  ;  so  that  the  ways  and 
proceedings  of  God  with  spirits  are  not  included  in  nature,  that 
is  in  the  laws  of  heaven  and  earth,  but  are  reserved  to  the  law 
of  His  secret  will  and  grace." — Lord  Bacon,  A  Confession  of 
Faith. 

"  The  law  of  the  divine  nature  enables  it  to  suspend  all 
physical  laws,  but  the  existence  of  a  God  assumed,  the  law  of 
the  divine  nature  is  as  much  a  law  of  nature  as  the  laws  which 
it  suspends." — Mozley  on  Miracles,  p.  162. 


SERM.  v.]    GROANING  CREATION.  167 


an  apparent  indifference  to  human  agony ;  it  is 
true  that  if  the  fairest  and  sweetest  child  which 
earth  ever  saw  be  left  at  play  in  the  face  of  the 
advancing  tide,  the  tide  will  still  advance  and 
drown  the  little  life  ;  it  is  true  that  the  fire  in 
its  ruthless  vividness  will  roll  over  the  loveliest 
maiden  whose  rich  dress  should  catch  its  flame.' 
Only  think  of  that  accident  which  appalled  us 
six  days  ago.^  It  is  a  law  that  resistance  must 
be  equal  to  force,  and  that  if  there  be  a  certain 
amount  of  pressure  and  of  vibration,  whatever 
comes  of  it,  a  structure  will  give  way,  even 
though,  alas,  it  hurl  nearly  a  hundred  human 
beings,  with  one  flash  of  horror,  into  the  gulf  of 
death.     But  is  this  any  reason  for  a  fierce 

'  "  Pres  du  foyer  Constance  s'admirait. 

Dieu  !  sur  sa  robe  il  vole  une  etincelle  ! 
Au  feu,  cnurez ;  qnand  I'esprit  I'enivrait 

Tout  perdre  ainsi !    Quoi  !  Mourir — et  si  belle  ! 
L'horrible  feu  ronge  avec  volupte 

Ses  bras,  son  sein,  et  I'entours,  et  s'eleve, 
Et  sans  pitie  devore  sa  beaute, 

Ses  dixhuit  ans,  helas,  et  son  beau  reve ! " 

Casimir  de  la  Vigne,  La  Toiktte  de  Constance. 
■  The  Tay  Bridge  disaster,  Sunday,  Dec.  28,  1879. 


EPHPHATHA. 


[SERM.  V. 


arraignment  of  nature,  as  though  she  were  exe- 
crably ruthless,  and  execrably  indifferent  ?  '  Not 
so,  my  brethren.  Death  whenever  it  comes  is 
but  death.  None  of  us  has  any  promise  of  this 
or  that  amount  of  life.  It  needs  no  railway 
accident,  no  sinking  ship,  or  breaking  ice,  or 
burning  town,  or  flame  from  heaven,  or  arrow  in 
the  darkness,  or  smiting  of  the  sun  by  day,  or 
the  moon  by  night,  to  cut  short  our  days.  An 
invisible  sporule  in  the  air  may  do  it,  or  a  lesion 
no  bigger  that  a  pin's  point. 

"  He  ate,  drank,  lau^jhed,  loved,  lived,  and  liked  life  well ; 
Then  came — who  knows  ? — some  gust  of  jungle  wind, 
A  stumble  on  the  path  ;  a  taint  i'  the  tank; 
A  snake's  nip ;  half  a  span  of  angry  steel ; 
A  chill ;  a  fishbone  ;  or  a  falling  tile, — 
And  life  is  over,  and  the  man  is  dead." 

But  is  this  any  reason  why  we  should  look  on 
ourselves  as  victims  of  dead  irresponsible  forces 

»  I  allude,  of  course,  to  Mr.  J.  S.  Mill's  famous  impeachment 
of  nature  in  his  posthumous  Three  Essays  on  Religion  (pp. 
28 — 36),  in  which  among  other  things  he  says  that  Nature, 
•'with  the  most  supercilious  disregard  both  of  mercy  and  of 
justice,"  is  guilty  of  deeds  "  such  as  the  ingenious  cnielty  of  a 
Nabis  or  a  Domitian  never  surpassed." 


SERM.  v.]    GROANING  CREATION. 


169 


Why  so  ?  death  is  but  death,  and,  if  we  live  faith- 
fully, death  is  our  richest  birthright.  The  youth 
whom  the  girl  he  loved  persuaded  to  go  back 
to  his  duty  by  that  fatal  train  last  week,  and 
who  perished  in  it  in  a  moment,  must  he  not 
have  died  some  day,  could  he  have  died  better 
than  in  doing  his  duty  ?  "  Were  you  ready  to 
die  that  you  jumped  into  the  stormy  sea  to 
save  that  child's  life  ?  "  said  a  gentleman  to  an 
English  sailor.  "  Should  I  have  been  better 
prepared,  sir,"  the  sailor  answered,  "  if  I 
had  shirked  my  duty?"  A  sudden  death  is 
often,  and  in  many  respects,  the  most  merciful 
form  of  death  ;  and  the  apparently  terrible 
death  of  a  few  may  save  the  lives  of  many 
hundreds.  The  uniformity  of  nature  may 
sometimes  wear  the  aspect  of  passionless 
cruelty ;  but  as  we  learn  more  and  more  to 
observe  and  to  obey  her  laws,  we  find  more 
and  more  that  they  work  for  countless  ends 
of  beneficence  and  beauty,  that  out  of  seeming 
evil  she  works  real  good,  out  of  transient  evil 
enduring  good.     The   fires   which    rend  the 


I  JO  EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  v. 

earthquake  and  burst  from  the  volcano,  are  the 
quickening  forces  of  the  world  ;  her  storms 
lash  the  lazy  atmosphere  which  otherwise 
would  stagnate  into  pestilence,  and  it  is  for 
man's  blessing,  not  for  his  destruction,  that  her 
waters  roll  and  her  great  winds  blow. 

3.  But  are  we,  after  all,  so  very  helpless 
before  the  aggregate  of  these  mighty  forces, 
as  materialism  loves  to  represent  ?  Not  so  ! 
"Thou  madest  him  to  have  dominion  over 
the  works  of  thy  hands,"  said  the  Psalmist, 
"Thou  hast  put  all  things  under  his  feet." 
"  Replenish  the  earth,  and  subdue,  and  have 
dominion,"  said  the  first  utterance  of  God  to 
man.  And  what  is  this  but  an  equivalent 
of  the  latest  utterances  of  science,  that  "the 
order  of  nature  is  ascertainable  by  our  facul- 
ties to  an  extent  which  is  practically  un- 
limited, and  that  our  volition  counts  for  some- 
thing in  the  course  of  events  "  '  Man  has 
done  much  to  make  the  world  in  all  senses 
a  worse  place  for  himself,  but  he  has  also, 

'  Huxley,  Lay  Sermons,  p.  159. 


SERM.  v.]    GROANING  CREATION.  ijl 


thank  God,  done  much  to  make  it  better,  and 
he  may,  to  an  almost  unspeakable  extent, 
remedy  for  himself  and  for  his  race  the  throes 
and  agonies  of  the  groaning  universe.  God 
meant  His  earth  to  be  a  more  'blessed  place 
for  us  than  it  is,  and  in  every  instance  men 
have  made  it  more  blessed  when  they  have 
read  the  open  secrets,  by  virtue  of  which,  for 
our  incitement,  if  not  for  our  reward,  'herbs 
have  their  healing,  stones  their  preciousness,  and 
stars  their  times.'  Ancient  nations  have  shud- 
dered at  the  awfulness  of  the  Sea.  It  drowns 
ship  and  sailor;  but  "trim  your  sail,  and  the 
same  wave  which  drowns  the  barque  is  cleft 
by  it,  and  bears  it  along  like  its  own  foam, 
a  plume  and  a  power."  The  Liglitiiing  sh;it- 
ters  tower  and  temple ;  but  once  learn  that 
it  is  nothing  but  the  luminous  all-pervading 
fluid  which  you  may  evolve  by  rubbing  a 
piece  of  amber,  and  brush  out  of  a  child's  fair 
hair,  and  then  with  no  more  potent  instru- 
ment than  a  boy's  kite  you  may  dash  harm- 
less  to   the   earth    the   all-shattering  brand 


172 


EPHPHATHA. 


[SERM.  V. 


which  was  the  terror  of  antiquity,"  nay,  you  may 
seize  it  by  its  wing  of  fire,  and  bid  it  carry  your 
messages  around  the  girdled  globe.  Zymotic 
diseases  smite  down  the  aged  and  the  young, 
but,  when  you  have  learnt  that  they  are  caused 
by  myriads  of  invisible  germs  which  float  in  the 
water  or  the  air,  you  have  but  to  observe  the 
commonest  rules  of  sanitary  science,  to  filter 
and  boil  the  dangerous  water,  to  insure  free  cur- 
rents of  air,  to  breathe  as  nature  meant  you  to 
breathe,  through  the  nostrils,  and  not  through 
the  throat,  and  you  rob  them  of  half  their 
deadliness.  Why  has  Small-pox  been  stayed  in 
its  loathly  ravages,  and  deprived  of  its  hideous 
power  ?  Why  does  the  Black  Death  rage  no 
longer,  as  it  raged  among  the  monks  of  this 
Abbey  four  centuries  ago  ?  Why  do  we  not 
have  Pestilence,  like  that  great  plague  of 
London,  which  destroyed  7,165  persons  in  a 

'  "  That  blessed  triumph  when  the  patriot  sage 
Call'd  the  red  lightnings  from  the  o'er-rushing  cloud. 
And  dash'd  the  beauteous  terrors  on  the  earth 
Smiling  majestic." — Coleridge,  Religious  A/usitigs. 


SERM.  v.]    GROANING  CREATION. 


173 


single  week  ?  Why  has  Gaol  fever  disappeared  ? 
Why  are  the  cities  of  Europe  horrified  no  longer 
by  the  hideousness  of  medizeval  Leprosy  ?  Be- 
cause men  live  "amid  cleaner  and  purer  sur- 
roundings. Because  rushes  are  no  longer 
strewn  over  floors  which  had  been  suffered  to 
be  saturated  with  the  organic  refuse  of  years. 
Because  the  simplest  laws  of  nature  are  better 
understood.  Because,  in  these  respects,  men 
have  remedied  by  God's  aid,  some  of  those 
miseries  for  which  the  Saviour  sighed. 

4.  And  this  amelioration  of  man's  miseries  is  a 
great,  and  noble,  and  Christlike  work.  Would  that 
there  were  no  other  side  to  the  picture !  Man, 
alas!  also  has  done,  and  may  do  infinite  mis- 
chief to  the  world  he  lives  in.  He  may  cut 
down  the  forests  on  the  hills,  and  so  diminish 
the  necessary  rain.  He  may  pluck  up  the 
grasses  on  the  shore,  and  so  lay  waste  whole 
acres  to  the  devastating  sands.  He  may  poison 
the  sweet  pure  rivers  of  his  native  soil,  till  their 
crystal  freshness  is  corrupted  into  deathful  and 
putrescent  slime.    He  may  herd  together,  as  we 


174 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  v. 


suffer  our  poor  to  do,  in  filthy  tenements  which 
shall  breed  every  species  of  disease  and  vice.  He 
may  indulge  or  acquiesce  in  senseless  fashions 
and  pernicious  vanities  which  shall  mean  not  only 
wasteful  ugliness  and  grotesque  extravagance, 
but  even  shattered  health  and  ruined  lives,  to  the 
mothers  of  his  race.  He  may  in  greed  of  com- 
petition, extirpate  the  game  of  the  forest,  the 
fishes  of  the  sea.  He  may  destroy  the  exquisite 
balance  of  nature,  by  shooting  down  or  entrap- 
ping the  sweet  birds  of  the  air,  till  his  vines  and 
his  harvests  are  devastated  by  the  insects  on 
which  they  feed.  He  may  suffer  the  chimneys 
of  his  manufactories  to  poison  the  atmosphere 
with  black  smoke  and  sulphurous  acid,  till  his 
proudest  cities  are  stifled  at  noonday,  as  we  all 
have  seen  in  London  for  these  many  weeks,  with 
the  unclean  mirk  of  midnight  fogs.  He  may 
suffer  noxious  gases  to  be  vomited  upon  the 
breeze,  fill  the  most  glorious  buildings  in  his 
cities  corrode  and  crumble — as  the  stones  of 
this  Abbey  are  doing — under  their  influence, — 
till    the   green   woods    blacken    into  leafless 


SERM.  v.]     GROANING  CREATION.  175 


wastes,  and  life  is  lived  at  miserable  levels  of 
vitality  under  the  filthy  reek.  There  is  hardly  any 
limit  to  the  evil,  no  less  than  to  the  good,  which 
man  may  do  to  this  his  earthly  environment. 
Nor  is  it  less  deplorable  that  he  may  go  out  of 
his  way  to  do  endless  mischief  to  himself,  by 
his  misuse  or  abuse  of  the  properties  of  things. 
From  the  dried  capsules  of  the  white  poppy  he 
extracts  opium,  and  he  grows  acres  of  poppies 
that  with  thousands  of  chests  of  that  opium,  he 
may  degrade  into  decrepitude  and  wretchedness 
the  most  populous  nation  upon  earth.  Nature 
gives  him  the  purple  grape  and  the  golden  grain, 
and  he  mashes  them  and  lets  them  rot  and 
seethe,  and  assists,  and  superintends,  and  retards 
their  decomposition,  till  he  has  educed  from 
them  a  fermented  intoxicating  liquor;  and  not 
content  with  this  as  a  luxury,  he  pours  it  into 
Circean  cups  of  degrading  excess  ;  not  content 
with  even  fermentation,  he  further,  by  distillation, 
extracts  a  transparent,  mobile,  colourless  fluid, 
which  is  the  distinctive  element  in  ardent  spirits 
and  these,  whatever  may  be  their  legitimate  use 


176 


EPHPHATHA. 


[SERM.  V. 


in  manufacture  or  in  medicine,  he  has  so  horribly 

abused  that  they  have  become  to  mankind,  the 

spirittis  ardentes  indeed,  but  not  of  heaven — fiery 

spirits   of  the  abyss,  which   have  decimated 

nations,  ruined  continents,  shortened  miUions  of 

Hves,  and  turned  for  millions  of  God's  children, 

and  millions  of  Christ's  little  ones,  life  into  an 

anguish,  and  earth  into  a  hell.    Do  not  say  we 

can  do  nothing  to  soften  for  man  the  deadly 

agencies  which  are  working  in  the  world, — for 

all  this  mischief,  and  incalculably  more  than 

this,  is  man's  own  doing. 

"  God  made  the  living  soul, 
The  ruined  creature  is  the  work  of  man." 

5.  But  in  this  attempt  to  show  you  that  we 
have  Christ's  work  to  do  for  the  groaning 
creation,  I  will  not  leave  you  with  only  this 
dark  specimen  of  infatuation  and  misuse. 
Rather  let  me  ask  you  to  glance  for  a  moment 
at  one  of  the  beneficent  secrets  which  nature 
has  yielded  up  to  man.  Have  you  ever  realised, 
with  heartfelt^  gratitude  to  God,  the  priceless 
boon  which  He  has  granted  to  this  generation 


SERM.  v.]    GROANING  CREATION 


177 


in  the  diminution  of  pain  ?  One  of  our  best 
surgeons  has  just  told  us  the  strange  yet 
simple  story  of  this  discovery,  from  the  first 
dim  intimation  of  the  possibility  in  1798,  till  in 
1846  it  might  almost  be  said  that  in  Europe 
we  could  name  the  month,  before  which  all 
operative  surgery  was  agonising,  and  after 
which  it  was  painless."  But  what  an  immense, 
what  an  enormous  boon  is  this  application  of 
anodynes  !  "  Past  all  counting  is  the  sum  of 
happiness  enjoyed  by  the  millions  who  have, 
in  the  last  thirty-three  years,  escaped  the  pain 
that  was  inevitable  in  surgical  operations ;  pain 
made  more  terrible  by  apprehension ;  more 
keen  by  close  attention ;  sometimes  awful  in 
a  swift  agony ;  sometimes  prolonged  beyond 
even  the  m'ost  patient  endurance,  and  then 
renewed  in  memory,  and  terrible  in  dreams. 
This  will  never  be  felt  again."  And  besides 
this  abolition  of  pain,  it  would  take  long  to  tell 
how  chloroform  and  ether  "  have  enlarged  the 
field  of  useful  surgery,  making  many  things 

>  Sir  James  Paget,  in  the  Nineteenth  Centtity,  Dec.  1879. 

N 


178 


EPHPHATHA.  [sekm.  v. 


easy  which  were  difficult,  many  safe  which 
were  perilous,  many  practical  which  were  nearly 
impossible."  Of  the  discoverers — mainly  four — 
it  is  a  lesson  not  without  its  religious  signi- 
ficance, that  one  alone  had  earthly  rewards, — 
Sir  James  Simpson,  whose  bust  is  in  this 
Abbey.  Of  the  other  three,  two, — such  are 
earth's  rewards  if  we  work  for  them  ! — two  died 
after  years  of  worry  and  disappointment,  insane 
and  by  their  own  hand,  leaving  their  families  in 
poverty  ;  the  third,  without  wealth  or  honours, 
is  living,  and  is  in  an  asylum  now.  But  another 
lesson  this  eminent  man  of  science  draws,  which 
bears  directly  on  our  subject ; — that  while  we  are 
profanely  decrying  nature,  discoveries  the  most 
blessed,  boons  the  most  priceless,  may  lie  close 
to  us  and  yet  God  leave  us  to  discover  them ;  and 
that  we  may  endure  many  needless  miseries, 
falsely  accusing  nature  and  even  God,  only 
because  we  have  neither  hope  enough  to  excite 
intense  desire,  nor  desire  enough  to  encourage 
hope.  We  wonder  that  for  forty  years  the 
discovery  of  anaesthetics   was  not  pursued, 


SERM.  v.]    GROANING  CREATION. 


179 


though,  after  the  pregnant  hint  of  Sir  H. 
Davy,  it  lay  but  half  hidden  under  so  thin  a 
veil.  Our  successors  will  wonder  at  us,  as  we 
at  those  before  us,  that  we  were  as  blind  to  who 
can  tell  how  many  great  truths,  which,  they  will 
say,  were  all  around  us,  within  reach  of  any 
clear  and  earnest  mind.  They  will  wonder  at 
the  quietude  with  which  we  stupidly  acquiesce 
in,  or  immorally  defend,  the  causes  which  per- 
petuate and  intensify  our  habitual  miseries. 
Our  fathers  needlessly  put  up  with  these 
miseries  "  as  we  now  put  up  with  typhoid  fever 
and  sea-sickness;  with  local  floods  and  droughts; 
with  waste  of  health  and  wealth  in  pollutions 
of  rivers  ;  with  hideous  noises,  and  foul  smells  ; ' 
with  the  curse  of  alcoholic  poisoning,  and  many 
other  miseries.  Our  successors  when  they  have 
remedied  or  prevented  these,  will  look  back  on 
them  with  horror,  and  on  us  with  wonder  and 
contempt,  for  what  they  will  call  our  idleness 
or  blindness,  or  indifference  to  suffering.  Alas ! 
in  the  physical  as  in  the  moral  world,  we  mur- 
mur at  the  evils  which  surround  us,  and  we  do 

N  2 


i8o 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  v. 


not  remove  them.  We  multiply  those  evils, 
and  make  life  wretched,  and  then  curse  nature 
because  it  is  wretched,  and  neglect  or  fling  away 
the  precious  gifts,  and  easy  remedies  which 
would  make  it  blest.  And  is  it  not  so  in  the 
spiritual  world }  Nine-tenths  of  our  miseries 
are  due  to  our  sins.  Yet  the  remedy  of  our  sins 
is  close  at  hand.  We  have  a  Saviour;  we  have 
been  commemorating  His  birth  ;  but  we  live  and 
act  as  though  He  were  dead  ;  in  our  own  lives 
and  those  of  others  we  suffer  those  miseries  to 
run  riot  which  He  came  to  cure ;  we'talk  and 
live  as  though  those  remedies  were  undiscover- 
able,  while  from  day  to  day  His  Word  is  very 
nigh  us,  even  in  our  mouths  and  in  our  hearts ! 

6.  I  had  intended  to  pass  on  to  those  aspects 
of  the  subject  which  perhaps  you  might  consider 
to  be  more  immediately  religious,  more  directly 
practical  ;  but  these  I  must  now  leave  till 
another  Sunday.  Nor  am  I  altogether  sorry.  We 
dwarf  religion  as  we  dwarf  everj'thing  else.  We 
make  it  hard,  narrow,  selfish,  Pharisaic,  exclu- 
sively individual.    We  breathe  upon  its  glorious 


SERM.  v.]    GROAMNG  CREATION.  i8i 


ideal,  and  it  fades.  With  our  sectarian  dogma- 
tism we  dutch  its  opening  buds  of  hope,  and 
they  wither  "  Hi<e  a  garland  in  a  Fury's  grasp." 
O  how  have  wc  sinned — we  who  are  set  apart 
to  be  its  teachers,  ourselves,  every  one  of  us, 
terribly  needing  to  be  taught ! — how  have  we 
sinned  by  making  men  suppose  that  religion  is 
to  be  identified  with  scholasticism  ;  that  a  man 
may  be  scorned  and  pitied  as  a  heretic  if  he 
happen  to  lose  his  way  in  a  labyrinth  of  theo- 
sophic  technicalities.  How  have  we  sinned  so 
far  as  we  have  left  men  to  suppose  that  what 
we  call  religion  delights  in  railing  and  heresy- 
hunting  ;  that  its  right  hand  does  but  grasp  the 
thunders  of  human  anathemas ;  that  we  can  look 
with  remorseless  hallelujahs  on  millions  of  the 
perishing,  so  that  we  save  our  individual  souls ! 
We  may  profess  to  repudiate  such  language 
now,  but  there  it  stands  in  all  its  horror  on  the 
pages  of  theologians.  O  how  have  we  sinned — 
Churches  sinned,  priests  sinned,  preachers  sinned 
— in  leading  men  to  suppose  that  the  visitation 
of   God    means  some   stroke   of  wrath  and 


I82 


EPHP HATHA.  [serm.  v. 


vengeance,  not  the  never-failing  mercies  of  His 
fatherly  providence,  not  the  all-embracing  ten- 
derness of  His  illimitable  love !  Keble  in  his 
hymn  on  the  sigh  of  Christ  has  said, 

"  The  deaf  may  hear  the  Saviour's  voice, 
The  fettered  tongue  its  chain  may  break. 

But  the  deaf  heart,  the  dumb  by  choice. 
The  laggard  soul  that  will  not  wake. 

The  guilt  that  scorns  to  be  forgiven. 

These  baffle  e'en  the  spells  of  heaven ; 

In  thought  of  these  His  brows  benign 

Not  e'en  in  healing  cloudless  shine." 

But  who  is  responsible  too  often  for  the  deaf 
ear,  the  fettered  tongue,  the  deaf  heart,  the 
laggard  soul,  the  defiant  guilt  ?  Is  it  not  the 
blind  guidance  of  the  blind  ?  Is  it  not  the  deaf 
heart  of  the  hard  religionist  ?  Against  whom  was 
it  that  the  indignation  of  the  Saviour  burned 
with  so  fierce  a  flame  ?  Read  the  Four  Gospels 
for  yourselves,  and  see.  Was  it  against  the  poor 
wretched  sinners — the  drunkards,  the  publicans, 
the  harlots,  the  people  who  knew  not  the  law 
and  were  accursed,  the  ignorant  heathen,  the 
grossly  unorthodox  Samaritan  ?  or  was  it  against 


SERM.  v.]    GROANING  CREATION.  183 


sleek  Scribes,  who  made  religion  repellent  with 
harsh  dogmas  and  burdensome  ceremonials ; 
against  rich  respectable  Pharisees  ;  against  those 
that  accounted  themselves  righteous  and  de- 
spised others ;  against  men  who  lived  in  the 
odour  of  their  own  sanctity,  amid  the  self- 
approving  beatitudes  of  mutual  benedictions? 
My  brethren,  amid  your  morbid  self-introspec- 
tions will  you  never  look  upwards  ?  will  nothing 
short  of  a  thunderclap  make  you  notice  that 
heaven  is  blue  ?  Will  you  always  stare  on  the 
sea  of  glass  mingled  with  fire  before  the  throne, 
and  never  at  the  rainbow  which  spans  it  round  ? 
I  am  glad  that  I  have,  for  once  at  any  rate, 
preached  you  a  sermon  which  is  not  solely 
about  your  individual  souls.  Individualism, 
dogmatism,  sectarianism,  religious  party, — shall 
we,  amid  the  clamours  and  condemnations  of 
these,  never  learn  that  God  is  love  ?  that  the 
Gospel  of  Christ  is  a  Gospel  of  "good  will 
towards  men  ? "  Sin  is  terrible  enough  ;  the 
punishment  of  sin  is  terrible  enough.  It  is  the 
falsehood,  sometimes  of  stupidity,  sometimes  of 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  v. 


malice,  to  say  that  I  have  ever  denied  that  there 
is  a  punishment  for  sin  both  here  and  hereafter. 
There  is  such  punishment,  and  it  will  be,  as 
it  now  is,  terrible  exceedingly.  So  far  from 
dogmatising  or  rashly  intruding  into  unrevealed 
mysteries,  what  I  have  done — driven  thereto 
by  the  agonies  of  certain  death-beds — is  only 
to  refuse  to  dogmatise  where  Scripture  is  silent 
or  to  clear  away  untenable  renderings  and  tra- 
ditional misinterpretations  from  its  recorded 
words.  But  now  from  the  inferential  speculations 
of  theology  I  would  call  you  to  another  set  of 
thoughts,  even  to  these, — God  is  love.  His  pur- 
pose is  love;  if  many  of  us  are  lost.  He  sent 
His  Son  to  seek  and  save  His  lost  ;  if  His  sheep 
wander  into  the  wilderness,  the  Good  Shepherd 
in  the  Parable  searches  for  His  sheep,  until  He 
find  them.  Why?  because  He  grieves  over 
human  sin,  and  pities  human  misery.  And 
therefore  to  remedy  evil,  to  strive  for  good, — 
not  to  neglect  the  little  daily  duties  and  bene- 
ficences of  life,  the  gracious  acts,  the  tender 
courtesies,  the  tolerant  appreciations,  the  public 


SERM.  v.]    GROANING  CREA  TION. 


185 


magnanimities,  the  social  efforts,  the  national 
aims  of  nobler  manhood,  eithei  in  selfish  ab- 
sorption in  the  effort  to  save  our  own  souls,  or  in 
fury  against  others  because  they  will  not  save 
their  souls  in  our  way, — in  one  word  to  love 
God  and  our  neighbour,  and  to  believe  on  the 
name  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  love  one  another 
as  He  gave  us  commandment, — this  is  to  live  as 
Christ  lived  on  earth.  Let  us  do  our  work,  and 
let  Popes,  and  Sadducees,  and  Pharisees,  and 
Inquisitors,  say  their  say.  It  may  be  that  there 
is  danger  sometimes  for  the  humanitarian,  the 
philanthropist,  the  reformer,  lest  in  vast  strivings 
for  the  good  of  others  he  forget  that  the  motive 
power  and  purifying  element  of  such  work  can 
only  lie  in  personal  devotion  to  his  Saviour,  in 
personal  communion  with  his  God.  "Are  you 
not  afraid  of  neglecting  your  own  soul  amid 
your  labours  for  the  negroes "  asked  one,  of 
Clarkson,  the  abolitionist.  "  I  leave  God  to 
take  care  of  my  soul  while  I  do  His  work,"  was 
the  reply.  On  the  lips  of  a  truly  good  man,  it 
was  a  noble  reply.    It  was  like  Moses,  "  Oh, 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  v. 


these  people  have  sinned — yet  now  if  thou  wilt 
forgive  their  sin, — and  if  not,  blot  me,  I  pray 
thee,  out  of  thy  book."  It  is  St.  Paul,  "  I 
could  have  wished  my  own  self  to  be  anathema 
from  Christ,  for  the  sake  of  my  brethren,  my 
kinsmen  according  to  the  flesh."  It  is  White- 
field's,  "  Let  the  name  of  George  Whitefield 
perish,  if  God  be  glorified."  In  a  different  region 
from  that  of  the  spiritual  life  it  is  even  Danton's 
"  Let  my  name  be  branded  so  France  be  free." 
The  true  Christian  knows  or  may  know  that 
there  is  no  antithesis,  but  the  deepest  sympathy 
between  his  divine  inner  life,  and  his  vigorous 
outward  usefulness  ;  that  his  work  will  be  most 
blessed  when  his  heart  is  most  merciful  and 
pure ;  that  his  holiest  prayers  will  transform 
themselves  into  his  happiest  labours  ;  and  that 
while  he  serves  God  better  by  giving  a  cup  of 
cold  water  in  His  name  to  one  of  His  little 
ones  than  though  he  weekly  partook  of  seven 
fasting  but  loveless  communions,  he  will  still 
need  the  cry 


SERM.  v.]    GROANING  CREATION.  187 


"  O  perfect  pattern  from  above, 
So  strengthen  us  that  ne'er 
Prayer  keeps  us  back  from  works  of  love, 
Or  works  of  love  from  prayer." 

But  for  one  sermon  you  hear  about  work  for 
the  secular  amelioration  of  the  suffering  world 
for  which  Christ  sighed,  you  may  (I  suppose) 
hear  fifty  on  passing  ecclesiastical  controversies 
and  five  thousand  about  individual  efforts  for 
personal  salvation.  And  yet  one  pure,  self- 
sacrificing  deed,  one  word  of  generosity  to  an 
opponent,  one  kindly  act  to  aid  another,  may 
have  been  better  for  you  in  God's  sight,  and  far 
far  harder  for  you  to  do,  than  to  attend  in  the 
year  the  730  daily  services  which  this  Abbey 
provides.  Yes,  I  am  glad  that  I  have  preached 
to  you  to-day  the  duty  of  what  some  would  call 
secular  work — as  though  secular  work  were  not 
often  the  most  profoundly  religious  work ! — for 
the  amelioration  of  the  world.  And  I  say,  that 
it  were  better  for  you  to  have  made  but  two 
blades  of  grass  grow  where  one  grew  before,  than 
if,  with  the  hollow,  hateful,  slanderous  heart  of 
some  of  the  false  prophets  of  modern  religionism, 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  v. 


you  were  every  morning  to  do  whatever  .••.lodem 
thing  may  be  analogous  to  binding  your  fringes 
with  blue,  and  broadening  your  phylacteries, — to 
making  the  hill-tops  blaze  with  your  sacrificial 
fires,  building  here  seven  altars,  and  ofiTering  a 
bullock  and  a  ram  on  every  altar.  Anu  so,  my 
brethren,  let  us  leave  this  Abbey  to-day  with 
conceptions  of  duty  larger  and  more  h^^peful ; 
with  more  yearning  both  after  the  sympathy 
of  Christ  and  after  His  activity ;  with  more 
faith  to  see  that  the  world  would  not  be  so 
utter  a  ruin  but  for  our  perversity ;  with  more 
hope  to  be  convinced  that  even  we  can  '.elp  to 
redeem  its  disorders,  and  restore  its  pristine 
pcrfectncss.  Let  us  obey  the  command.  "  Eph- 
phatha.  Be  opened  !  "  Let  us  lift  up  our  eyes  to 
see  that,  though  the  air  around  us  is  colourless, 
the  far-off  heaven  is  blue.  Let  us  see  and  be 
thankful  for  the  beauty  of  the  world,  the  sweet 
air,  the  sunshine,  the  sea,  the  splendiH  orna- 
ments of  heaven,  the  ever-recurring  circles  of 
the  divine  beneficence.  Let  us  learn  the  secrets 
of  the  mighty  laws  which  only  crush  us  when 


SERM.  v.]    GROANING  CREATION.  189 


we  disobey  them,  and  which  teach  us,  with 
divine  inflexibility,  that  as  we  sow  we  reap. 
Let  us  not  hinder  the  students  of  science  in 
their  patient  toil  and  marvellous  discovery  by 
the  crude  infallibilities  of  our  ignorant  dog- 
matism. Let  us  believe — for  we  were  saved  in 
Hope — that  "Utopia  itself  is  but  another  word 
for  time;"  and  that,  if  our  own  work  seems 
but  infinitesimal,  yet  "there  are  mites  in  science, 
as  well  as  in  charity,  and  the  ultimate  results 
of  each  are  alike  important  and  beneficial."' 
And  so  the  more  we  share  in  the  sigh  and  in 
the  toil  of  the  Saviour,  the  more  shall  we  share 
in  His  redeeming  gladness, — the  more  shall  we 
see  and  share  in 

"  The  joy  of  God  to  see  a  happy  world." 

If  we  be  Christians  at  all,  we  are  all  joining, 
or  trying  to  join,  somehow,  in  the  one  great 
Psalm  of  life.  To  one  who  hears  it  near  at 
hand  many  of  our  notes  may  seem  hideous  and 
most  discordant ;  but  a  little  farther  ofif  in  time 

'  Dr.  Richardson's  Hygeia. 


igo 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  v. 


and  space,  as  with  a  Scotch  psalm  ?  -id  the 
mountains,  "  the  true  notes  alone  support  one 
another,  all  following  the  one  true  rule ;  the 
false  notes,  each  following  its  own  false  rule, 
quickly  destroy  one  another,  and  the  psalm, 
which  was  discordant  enough  near  at  hand,  is 
a  perfect  melody  when  heard  from  far."  '  Oh 
that  our  lives  might  add  to  the  dominant 
melody ;  might  help  to  subdue  and  drown  those 
disproportionate  and  jarring  notes  ! 

'  T.  Carlyle. 


SERMON  VI. 

THE  MENDING  AND  MARRING 
OF  HUMAN  LIFE. 


1 


THE  MENDING  AND  MARRING  OF  HUMi^N  LIFE. 


Pour  out,  we  beseech  Thee,  O  Lord,  Thy  spirit  of  grace  upon 
us  Thy  servants,  and  cast  out  from  us  whatever  evil  we  have 
incurred  by  the  fraud  of  the  devil,  or  by  earthly  corruption, 
that,  being  cleansed  within  and  without,  we  may  ever  render 
ante  Thee  a  pure  worship,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 
Amen. 

"  A  sacred  burthen  is  this  life  ye  bear. 
Look  on  it,  lift  it,  bear  it  solemnly. 
Stand  up,  and  walk  beneath  it  steadfastly. 
Fall  not  for  sorrow,  falter  not  for  sin. 
But  onward,  upward,  till  the  goal  ye  win." 

F.  A.  Kemble. 


O 


SERMON  VI. 


THE  MENDING  AND  MARRING  OF  HUMA  ^ LIFE. 
Hos.  XIII.  9. 

"  O  Israel  thou  hast  destroyed  thyself,  but  in  me  is  thine  help." 

Our  subject  on  these  Sundays,  my  friends,  has 
been  the  amelioration  of  the  world.  We  have 
seen  that  if  our  Lord  sighed  before  He  opened 
the  blind  eyes,  He  sighed  because  He  grieved 
over  the  sorrows  of  man  on  earth,  and  that 
His  grief  took  form  in  the  sacrifice  of  His  own 
life,  that  we — our  bodies,  souls,  and  spirits — 
might  share  in  His  great  salvation.  If  then  this 
was  the  idea  of  His  life — deep  sympathy  ex- 
pressing itself  in  noble  toil — it  ought  to  be  the 
idea  of  ours  ;  and  we  have  tried  to  see  how,  both 
in  the  material  world,  and  in  the  world  of  sin  and 
sorrow,  we  may  do  very  much,  both  actively  and 

O  2 


196 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  vi. 


passively — both  by  diminishing  the  miseries  of 
mankind,  and  by  abstaining  from  the  aggravation 
of  them — to  make  man's  life  happier  than  it  is. 
We  tried  last  Sunday  to  glance  at  the  truth 
that  even  the  laws  and  conditions  of  the 
material  creation  might  be  so  used  as  to 
avert  their  severity  and  turn  them  into  un- 
bounded blessings ;  and  that  half  the  evils 
which  afflict  the  nations  are  created  by  their 
own  perversity,  springing,  as  they  do,  from 
abused  blessings,  or  conditions  which  they 
themselves  deprave.  And  surely  all  these  are 
deeply  religious  considerations.  Every  good 
man,  every  man  who  sincerely  desires  to  be 
a  soldier  and  servant  of  Jesus  Christ,  should 
be  glad  to  devote  every  gift  and  faculty  which 
he  possesses  to  the  service  of  his  brethren  for 
whom  Christ  died. 

It  is  only  because  we  are  all  so  naturally  and 
intensely  selfish  that  the  broader  aspects  of  this 
truth — those  which  affect  our  natural  life,  or  our 
general  relation  to  the  world  in  which  we  live — 
always  seem  to  be  regarded  as  less  immediately 


SERM.  VI.]  HUMAN  LIFE. 


197 


profitable.  But  (still  keeping  it  in  view  as  our 
object  to  see  in  what  ways  God  desires  us  to 
make  all  life  happier),  let  us  consider  to-day 
our  individical  lives  and  see  whether  they  would 
not  furnish  fewer  causes  for  the  Saviour's  sigh 
if  we  would  but  keep  steadily  in  sight  the  great 
purposes  of  God  respecting  us.  Are  there  not 
two  main  ways  in  which  we  might  do  this — the 
one  by  making  fuller  and  more  thankful  use  of 
the  innocent  blessings  which  God's  bounty  has 
lavished  upon  us  ;  the  other  by  not  ruining  and 
destroying  our  own  selves,  as  we  do  when  we 
poison  the  very  springs  of  natural  and  spiritual 
joy  by  the  introduction  of  alien  elements  into 
our  bodies  and  our  souls.''  —  We  suffer  by 
misdoing  ;  we  suffer  by  neglect. 

I.  I  say  then,  first,  that  we  suffer  by  neglect. 
The  full,  rich,  innocent  use  of  gifts  and  oppor- 
tunities— how  little  do  we  understand  it !  For 
every  purpose  of  noble  gladness,  how  much 
more  might  almost  every  one  of  us  make  of 
our  life  than  we  do  !  How  do  we  throw  away 
the  substance  for  the  shadow,  and  the  healthy 


198 


EPHPHATHA. 


[sERM.  vr. 


reality  for  the  feverish  dream !  How  do  we 
crowd  out  the  natural  effects,  and  make  all 
life  artificial.  We  spend  our  life,  as  it  were, 
on  the  stage  and  under  the  gaslight,  when  we 
might  be  walking  in  the  sunlight  under  heaven. 
We  talk  of  poverty  and  limitation,  while  we 
make  life  "  a  haggard,  malignant,  running  for 
luck,"  and  are  daily  neglecting  the  elements  of 
purest  and  loftiest  pleasure.  "  Give  me,"  says 
an  American  writer,  "health  and  a  day,  and  I 
will  make  the  pomp  of  emperors  ridiculous." 
But  to  enable  us  thus  to  enjoy  the  gifts  of 
nature  we  all  need  more  open  eyes,  more  grate- 
ful hearts.  I  often  think  that  most  of  us  in  life 
are  like  many  of  those  sightseers  who  saunter 
through  this  Abbey.  Their  listless  look  upon 
its  grandeur  and  its  memorials,  furnishes  an 
illustration  of  the  aspect  which  we  present  to 
higher  powers,  as  we  wander  restlessly  through 
the  solemn  minster-aisles  of  life.  For  this 
Abbey  appeals  in  different  ways  to  different 
feelings.  There  are  some,  who  with  no  special 
knowledge  or  education,  have  yet  a  heart  to  feel 


SERM.  VI.]  HUMAN  LIFE. 


199 


at  once  the  genius  of  the  place.    Its  grandeur 

and  solemnity  strike  into  them  an  involuntary 

awe.    For  them 

"  Bubbles  burst,  and  Folly's  dancing  foam 
Melts  as  they  cross  the  threshold." 

They  feel  as  even  the  puritan  Milton  felt  when 
he  spoke  of  the  "  high-embow^d  roof,"  the  massy 
pillars,  the  storied  windows,  the  pealing  organ, 
the  full-voiced  choir,  the  solemn  Psalms.  They 
have  at  least  the  innate  sense  of  what  is  great, 
and,  amid  these  ugly  wildernesses  of  brick, 
the  Abbey,  blackened  as  it  is  by  the  smoke  and 
fog  which  hangs  over  this  city  year  by  year,  and 
with  its  battlements  and  stones  corroded  by  the 
sulphurous  acids  of  the  air,  still  speaks  to  them 
in  a  nobler  language  than  they  hear  in  the  shops 
and  streets.  Others,  who  have  some  knowledge 
of  Architecture,  can  exult  in  each  exquisite  detail 
of  sculpture,  each  harmony  of  proportion,  each 
impress  of  the  thought  of  those  ages  of  faith 
to  which  these  cathedrals  of  England  owe  their 
origin.  Others  have  a  deep  interest  in  History, 
and  the  memorials  around  us  seem  to  give 


200 


EPHPHA  THA.  [serm.  v  i. 


them  a  deeper  comprehension,  and  a  more 
living  union  with  the  past.  Others  again, 
thrill  with  sympathy  as  they  stand  among  the 
tombs  of  the  mighty  dead,  and  amid  these 
records  of  past  lives  they  hear  in  its  softest 
tones,  "  the  sad  music  of  humanity."  But  when 
all  these  feelings  are  combined,  then  a  visit 
to  the  Abbey  leaves  those  rich  and  vivid  im- 
pressions of  delight  and  elevation  which  you 
may  find  recorded  in  the  descriptions  of  an 
Addison,  a  Washington  Irving,  or  a  Macaulay. 
How  is  it  then  that  myriads  who  come  here  do 
but  look  round  with  dreary  indifference  and 
listless  vacancy,  while  they  would  be  roused  to 
an  enthusiasm  of  delight  by  the  buffoonery  of 
a  comic  singer,  or  the  horrible  fling  of  an 
acrobat  on  a  trapeze  t  To  them  as  to  the 
most  gifted  the  Abbey  presents  the  same 
outward  appearance ;  the  same  vision  strikes 
their  retina.  But  the  eye  can  only  see  what 
it  brings  with  it  the  power  of  seeing.  The 
difference  is  in  them,  and  mostly  through  no 
fault  of  theirs.    They  have  neither  the  sense 


SERM.  VI.]  HUMAN  LIFE. 


201 


of  beauty,  nor  the  knowledge  of  art,  nor  the 
feeling  for  history,  nor  the  interest  in  noble 
lives,  which  should  make  these  walls  speak 
to  them.  Music  can  be  nothing  to  the  deaf 
ear ;  nor  the  glories  of  the  sunset  to  the  blind 
eye ;  nor  the  highest  utterances  of  poetry  to  the 
ignorant,  dead,  and  callous  heart.  To  them 
that  have  is  it  given,  and  they  have  more 
abundantly. 

Even  so  it  is  with  life,  with  the  temple  of  the 
outward  world.  We  talk  of  human  misery; 
how  many  of  us  derive  from  life  one-tenth  part 
of  what  God  meant  to  be  its  natural  blessedness.'' 
How  many  of  us  drink  the  deep  draughts  of 
joy  which  every  pure  heart  may  drink  out  of 
the  river  of  His  pleasures  t  Sit  out  in  the 
open  air  on  a  summer  day,  and  how  many  of 
us  have  trained  ourselves  to  notice  the  sweet- 
ness and  the  multiplicity  of  the  influences 
which  are  combining  for  our  delight — the  song 
of  birds ;  the  breeze  beating  balm  upon  the 
forehead  ;  the  genial  warmth ;  the  delicate 
odour  of  ten  thousand  flowers ;  the  play  of 


202 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  vi. 


lovely  colours ;  "  the  soft  eye-music  of  slow- 
waving  boughs  ? "  How  many  of  us  ever 
watch  the  pageant  of  the  clouds,  or  take  in 
the  meaning  of  a  starry  night,  or  so  much 
as  see  the  sunrise  ?  Or  if  we  do,  is  not  the 
remark  of  the  poor  poet-painter  true  of  us, 
"When  the  sun  rises  you  see  something  like 
a  golden  guinea  coming  out  of  the  sea :  I  see 
and  hear  likewise  an  innumerable  company 
of  angels  praising  God."  How  many  of  us, 
notice,  as  loving  and  gifted  observers  might 
help  us  to  notice,  the  multitudinous  beauty 
and  tenderness  of  the  burst  of  spring ;  the 
black  ashbuds  in  March  ;  the  glistening  chest- 
nut-buds in  April ;  the  blaze  of  celandines  ;  the 
golden  dust  in  the  catkins  of  the  hazel ;  the  rosy 
sheath  of  the  larch-tree's  fresh  green  leaves.  A 
poet  speaks  of  one  to  whom 

"  A  primrose  by  a  river's  brim, 
A  yellow  primrose  was  to  him, 
And  it  was  nothing  more." 

He  means  by  those  lines  to  express  the  difference 
between  bare  sight  and  divine  insight ;  between 


SERM.  VI.]  HUMAN  LIFE. 


203 


the  cold  unfurnished  sensual  soul,  and  the  soul 
that  sees  the  Unseen,  sees  God  in  all  things,  and 
sees  all  things  in  God.  Truly  "  the  misery  of 
man  appears  like  childish  petulance,  when  we 
explore  the  steady  and  prodigal  provision  which 
has  been  made  for  his  support  and  delight  on 
this  green  ball  that  floats  him  through  the 
universe. " 

"More  servants 
Wait  on  man  than  he'll  take  notice  of." 

We  all  live  on  far  lower  levels  of  vitality  and 
of  joy  than  we  need  to  do.  We  linger  in  the 
misty  and  oppressive  valleys  when  we  might 
be  climbing  the  sunlit  hills.  God  puts  into  our 
hands  the  Book  of  Life,  bright  on  every  page 
with  open  secrets,  and  we  suffer  it  to  drop  out 
of  our  hands  unread. 

2.  Even  this  negative  side  of  the  subject  is 
of  course  a  boundless  one.  If  we  suffer  from 
limitation  of  the  insight  which  would  open  our 
blind  souls  to  myriads  of  happy  impressions, 
how  do  we  suffer  also — all  mankind  alike — 
from  the  neglect  of  our  own  powers !  Our 


204 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  vi. 


capacities  —  and  the  full  exercise  of  every 
capacity  is  a  source  of  happiness  —  largely 
exceed  our  attainments.  No  nation  has  ever 
desired  to  train  a  particular  faculty  of  man 
without  finding  that  faculty  capable  of  indefinite 
development.  Why  does  the  wild  Indian  track 
his  path  with  unerring  certainty  through  the 
interminable  forest?  Why  was  there  no  limit 
to  the  hardy  endurance  of  the  Spartan  boy 
Why  was  the  young  Athenian  a  model  of  grace, 
agility,  and  beauty?  Why  can  the  Arab  tell 
you  the  number  of  approaching  horsemen  where 
you  barely  see  a  speck  on  the  horizon  ?  Why  do 
the  muscles  stand  out  so  strong  upon  an  athlete's 
arm  ?  The  faculties,  the  gifts  are  there — they 
are  a  part  of  our  natural  heritage — but  they  lie 
undeveloped  in  us  all.  They  perish  for  lack  of 
training,  and  become  as  though  they  were  not. 
We  talk  of  education;  we  call  this  an  age  of 
education.  For  myself,  I  doubt — such  poor 
blind  creatures  are  we  at  the  best — whether, 
after  millenniums  of  its  existence,  the  human 
race  has  grasped  one-tenth  part  of  the  secrets 


SERM.  VI.]  HUMAN  LIFE. 


205 


of  education  ;  whether  many  of  our  aims  and 
methods  in  education  are  not  deplorably  foolish  ; 
whether  while  aiming  at  our  fineries  of  Latin 
Verse  and  other  trivialities,  we  have  not  grievously 
retrograded  from  sensible  ideals  ;  whether  much 
of  our  so-called  highest  education  is  not — in 
comparison  with  much  that  we  might  do — 
an  elaborate  missing  of  the  mark.  At  any 
rate  who  shall  venture  to  say  that,  in  the 
use  of  our  blessings,  in  the  training  of  our 
powers,  we  have  as  a  race  attained  to  any- 
thing like  what  we  might  be,  or  done  even 
a  fraction  of  what  we  might  do  ?  Far  better 
and  brighter  is  the  world  than  we  will  see,  or 
suffer  it  to  be  for  us  ;  far  more  rich  in  capabilities 
of  power  and  blessedness  than  we  have  made 
them  are  the  immortal  souls  which  God  has 
given  us,  the  mortal  bodies  into  whose  nostrils 
He  has  breathed  the  breath  of  life. 

3.  That,  then,  is  the  negative  side  of  the 
matter — what  we  cannot  see,  what  we  will  net 
do ;  but  alas !  the  positive  side  is  far  more 
humiliating.     Man    complains  of  his  misery 


206 


EPHPHA  THA .  [s  erm.  vi . 


on  earth  ;  but  "  this,"  it  has  been  said,  "  we  may 
discover  assuredly ;  this  every  true  light  of 
science,  every  mercifully-granted  power,  every 
wisely-restricted  thought  may  teach  us  more 
clearly  day  by  day,  that  in  the  heavens  above, 
and  in  the  earth  beneath,  there  is  one  continual 
and  omnipotent  Presence  of  life,  and  of  peace, 
for  all  who  know  that  they  live,  and  remember 
that  they  die."  Alas  !  do  we  not,  too  often,  and 
too  many  of  us,  live  as  though  we  should  never 
die  to  earth,  and  die  as  though  we  should  never 
live  beyond  it  ?  Do  we  not  make  of  life  a 
living  death  till  we  have  sunk  so  low  that 
the  best  boon  for  us  might  well  seem  to  be 
an  everlasting  oblivion  ? 

And  that  is  why  life  is  so  full  of  misery — 
misery  of  body,  misery  of  mind. 

We  should  all  admit  at  once  that  a  very  large 
portion  of  that  misery  of  man  for  which  our 
Lord  sighed  was  the  result  of  diseased  conditions 
of  body ;  and  men  often  talk  as  though  bodily 
disease  were  a  part  of  the  spite  and  cruelty 
of  nature.    Ah !  my  friends,  how  vast  a  part 


SERM.  VI.]  HUMAN  LIFE. 


207 


of  human  disease  results,  not  only  as  we 
have  seen  from  the  ignorance,  but  also  from 
the  folly  and  the  sin  of  man.  Typhoid,  and 
leprosy,  and  the  black  death,  small-pox,  and 
gaol  fever,  are  not  by  any  means  the  only 
diseases  which  might  be  almost,  if  not  quite, 
eliminated  from  among  us.  We  talk  with  deep 
self-pity  of  the  ravages  of  gout,  and  cancer,  and 
consumption,  and  mental  alienation.  Alas ! 
how  many  of  these  might  in  one  or  two  gener- 
ations cease  to  be,  if  we  all  lived  the  wise  and 
temperate  and  happy  lives  which  nature  meant 
us  to  lead  !  And  the  voice  of  nature  rightly  in- 
terpreted is  ever  the  voice  of  God.  Even  the 
simplest  of  us  are  superfluous  in  our  demands, 
and  the  vast  majority  of  men  so  live  as,  more 
or  less  habitually,  to  pamper  the  appetite  with 
wasteful  extravagance,  and  weaken  the  health 
by  baneful  luxuries.  By  unwholesome  narcotics, 
by  burning  and  adulterated  stimulants,  by 
many  and  highly-seasoned  meats,  by  thus 
storing  the  blood  with  unnatural  elements, 
which   it   cannot    assimilate,   they   clog  and 


208 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  vi. 


carnalise  the  aspirations  which  they  should 
cherish,  and  feed  into  uncontrollable  force  the 
many-headed  monster  of  the  passions  which 
they  should  control.  Hence  it  is  that  millions 
of  lives  are  like  sweet  bells  jangled  out  of  tune, 
and  however  pompous  may  be  the  epitaphs  upon 
their  tombs,  millions  of  men  in  these  days,  like 
the  Israelites  of  old,  are  laid  to  rest  in  Kibroth 
HattaavaJi — the  graves  of  lust. 

And  the  sad  thing  is  that  this  heavy  punishment 
ends  not  with  the  individual.  It  is  not  only  that 
the  boy,  when  he  has  marred  his  own  boyhood, 
hands  on  its  moral  results  to  the  youth  ;  and 
the  youth,  when  he  has  marred  them  yet  more 
irretrievably,  hands  them  on  to  the  man  that 
he  may  finish  the  task  of  that  perdition  ; — but 
alas !  the  man  also  hands  them  on  to  his  in- 
nocent children,  and  they  are  born  with  bodies 
tormented  with  the  disproportionate  impulses, 
sickly  with  the  morbid  cravings,  enfeebled 
by  the  increasing  degeneracy,  tainted  by  the 
retributive  disease  of  guilty  parents.  And  all 
this  disorder  has  arisen  because  the  weaker  and 


SERM.  VI.]  HUMAN  LIFE. 


209 


baser  elements  of  our  nature  have  been  endowed 
with  a  force  which  is  the  result,  not  of  God's 
original  design  for  man,  but  of  man's  violation 
of  those  high  laws  which  He  designed  for  our 
guidance  and  our  protection.  But  in  spite  of 
these  trials  God  does  not  mean  us  to  be  dis- 
heartened. Those  laws  of  His  to  which  we  give 
the  name  of  nature,  have  in  them  a  strong 
recuperative  force  ;  they  tend  back  from  the 
degeneracy  to  the  original  perfection  ;  they  are 
ever  working  for  the  restoration  of  powers  not 
irretrievably  impaired,  for  the  renewal  of  harmo- 
nies which  have  not  yet  been  made  hopelessly 
discordant.  In  one  sense,  indeed,  it  is  terribly 
true  that  there  is  vicarious  suffering :  that  the 
fathers  eat  sour  grapes  and  the  children's  teeth 
are  set  on  edge ;  but  while,  on  the  one  hand,  we 
cease  to  perplex  ourselves  with  the  solution  of 
that  side  of  the  mystery  which  we  cannot  solve, 
let  us,  on  the  other,  see  for  our  comfort  that,  in 
spite  of  man's  defection  and  self-destruction, 
God  is  most  merciful  and  most  just.  If  any  of 
you  are  at  this  moment  suffering  in  your  own 

P 


2IO 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  vi. 


persons  from  the  sins  of  your  parents,  it  may- 
be only  because  He  would  grant  to  you  a  more 
glorious  victory,  a  more  infinite  reward.  Let 
us  take  but  one  instance.  There  are  men  living 
now — physicians  tell  us  of  them — to  whom,  in 
bitter  legacy,  their  fathers  have  bequeathed  so 
fierce  and  mad  a  craving  for  stimulants,  that 
they  have  felt  as  if  a  dead  hand  out  of  the 
abyss  were  ever  clutching  at  them  as  with  a 
grasp  of  fire.  And  yet  such  men,  though  for 
them  the  conditions  of  life  have  been  made  so 
perilous,  have  by  the  grace  of  God  completely 
triumphed.  In  daily  battle,  armed  in  the 
armour  of  righteousness,  they  have  done  all 
and  stood,  and  by  their  side,  like  an  unsleep- 
ing sentinel,  the  strong  angel  of  conscience  has 
kept  guard,  quenching  on  the  shield  of  faith 
shower  after  shower  of  the  fiery  darts  of  the 
wicked  one.  Those  men  are  true  heroes  ;  and 
though  they  may  die  obscure,  though  man 
may  know  nothing  of  their  noble  struggles, 
for  them  "all  the  trumpets  shall  sound  on  the 
other  .side." 


SERM.  Vl.l 


HUMAN  LIFE. 


211 


And  there  are  inherited  impulses  worse  if 
possible  than  even  this  ; — conditions  of  disease, 
mental,  physical,  and  moral,  which  have  been 
perpetuated  by  the  unlawful  pleasure  whereof 
the  end  is  deathful  corruption.  It  is  a  touching 
story  of  the  late  Archbishop  Whately,  that, 
when  he  lay  in  agony  on  his  deathbed,  his 
chaplain  tried  to  comfort  him  with  the  words, 
"  Who  shall  change  our  vile  body."  "  Read  it," 
he  said.  The  chaplain  read  the  passage  from 
our  English  Bible.  "  Read  it,"  said  the  dying 
Archbishop,  "in  his  own  words."  The  chaplain 
read  it  in  the  Greek,  and  there  the  words  literally 
are,  "  Who  shall  change  the  body  of  our  humili- 
ation." "Ah!"  said  Dr.  Whately,  " that  is  it; 
nothing  that  God  has  made  is  vile.'' '  No,  our 
bodies  are  not  vile ;  but  they  are,  alas,  too  often 
bodies  of  humiliation^ — of  humiliation  deepened 
into  abjectness  by  the  sins  of  others  or  our  own. 
There  are  mysteries  in  our  moral  nature,  my 
brethren,  on  which  we  dare  not  dwell ;  to  which 

■  Phil.  iii.  21.     (is  /n€Ta(rx7)(UaTf(7€i  tJi  <Tc5/io  tjjs  Taviivwafuii 
P  2 


212 


EPHPHATHA. 


[SERM.  VI. 


in  the  pulpit  it  is  scarcely  possible  even  to 
allude.  But  can  any  man  grow  to  manhood 
without  becoming  aware  how  many  poison  their 
own  life-blood  with  a  sore  degradation  which  is 
God's  executioner  on  those  who  force  their  way 
through  the  resistances  and  admonitions  of  law 
and  conscience  to  pluck  the  forbidden  fruit  of 
sensual  pleasure  If  any  young  man  who  has 
been  walking  after  his  own  heart's  lusts,  feels 
in  consequence  one  touch  of  the  avenging 
finger  of  violated  law — is  he  really  imaware 
that  such  a  taint  in  the  blood  may  prove  to 
be,  and  that  not  for  one  generation  only,  the 
afflictive  curse  of  even  the  most  innocent  lives 
Oh,  my  brethren,  if  men  would  but  make  a 
more  serious  effort  to  live,  as  they  were  taught 
by  their  catechisms  to  live,  in  temperance,  sober- 
ness, and  chastity  ;  to  live  as  they  pray  in  their 
prayers  to  live,  a  righteous,  sober,  and  godly 
life  ;  to  live  as  all  wise  men  have  urged  us  to 
live,  in  "plain  living  and  high  thinking;"  to  liw 
as  nature  teaches  us  to  live,  by  the  rule  of  "  not 
too  much  ; "  to  live  as  Scripture  urges  us  to  live, 


SERM.  VI.]  HUMAN  LIFE. 


213 


"  not  in  rioting  and  drunkenness,  not  in  chamber- 
ing and  wantonness,  not  in  strife  and  envying ;" 
— and  how  much  more  if  we  would  but  strive  to 
Hve  by  "  putting  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and 
making  no  provision  for  the  flesh  to  fulfil  the 
lusts  thereof :  " — how  vast  a  change  would  even 
one  single  generation  see  in  the  health,  the 
happiness,  the  ennoblement  of  mankind  !  And 
if  we  could,  by  energy,  and  faithfulness,  and 
earnest  prayer  for  the  aid  of  God's  Holy  Spirit, 
teach  but  the  youth  of  one  generation  that  the 
sowing  of  the  wind  means  always  the  reaping  of 
the  whirlwind  ;  that  each  man  is  mainly  what 
he  makes  himself;  that  there  is  an  inevitable 
congruity  between  the  seed  and  the  fruit ;  that 
he  who  would  be  truly  courageous,  who  would 
dare  all  things,  who  would  be  a  benefactor  of 
his  race,  who  would  look  unabashed  into  the 
face  of  all  mankind  though  they  were  arrayed 
together  to  crush  him,  who  would  achieve  the 
highest  purposes  of  his  reason  and  the  most 
generous  ideals  of  his  soul, — that  he  who,  though 
he  sternly  mastered  his  passions,  would  combine 


214 


EPHP HATHA. 


[SERM.  VI. 


calmness  and  peace  with  force  and  fire,  whose  life 
would  be  a  poem  though  he  wrote  none, — that 
he  who  would  live  as  one  "  who  loves  all  beauty 
whether  of  nature  or  of  art,  and  hates  all 
vileness,  and  respects  others  as  himself,"  and 
whose  life  as  it  draws  its  strength  from  holy 
inspiration  so  spends  that  strength  in  devoted 
service ;  if,  I  say,  we  could  teach  the  youth  of 
but  one  generation  that  he  who  would  do  thus, 
and  be  this,  "  must  retain  from  his  earliest  youth, 
and  in  the  most  secret  sessions  of  his  memory,  a 
spotless  title  to  self-respect,"  by  a  pure,  a  self- 
denying,  and  a  holy  life  ;  then  how  soon  would 
these  mortal  bodies  of  ours,  these  harps  of  a 
thousand  strings,  not  only  keep  in  tune,  but 
ring  with  the  very  melodies  of  heaven !  Then 
would  the  nations  grow  in  strength,  in  health, 
in  nobleness,  and  would  eliminate  from  among 
themselves,  each  man  for  himself,  and  all 
by  united  allegiance  to  the  interests  of  their 
race,  not  a  few  out  of  that  multipHcity  of 
afflictions  for  which  Christ  sighed,  and  from 
which  He  came  to  set  us  free;  then  should 


SERM.  VI.]  HUMAN  LIFE.  215 


old  age  be  like  that  described  by  our  great 
poet — 

"  For  in  my  youth  I  never  did  apply 
Hot  and  rebellious  liquors  in  my  blood  ; 
Nor  did  not  with  unbashful  forehead  woo 
The  means  of  weakness  and  debility ; 
Therefore  mine  age  is  as  a  lusty  winter, 
Frosty,  but  kindly." 

Old  age  should  be  like  this,  and  death  should  be 
like  the  dropping  of  ripe  fruit  from  the  tree ; — 
say  rather,  like  a  sleep  sent  by  God  to  His 
beloved  when  their  day's  work  is  done — a  sleep 
which  shall  awake  amid  the  eternal  realities  of 
heaven.  Is  this  a  path  worth  the  efforts  of  man- 
kind to  walk  in  >.  It  was  described  long  ago : 
"And  an  highway  shall  be  there,  and  a  way, 
and  it  shall  be  called  The  way  of  holiness ;  the 
unclean  shall  not  pass  over  it ;  but  it  shall  be 
for  those  :  the  wayfaring  men,  though  fools,  shall 
not  err  therein.  No  ravenous  beast  shall  go  up 
thereon  ;  but  the  redeemed  shall  walk  there  : 
they  shall  obtain  joy  and  gladness,  and  sorrow 
and  sighing  shall  flee  away." 

4.  But,  in  conclusion,  my  brethren,  some  of  you 


2l6 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  vi. 


may  say,  You  have  but  spoken  to-day  of  the 
redemption,  the  amelioration,  the  improvement 
of  the  body,  and  our  miseries  are  not  of  the 
body.  We  have  health  enough  ;  we  have  not 
been  intemperate ;  we  are  not  thus  impure. 
Yet  we  are  restless,  uneasy,  troubled,  smarting, 
some  of  us,  under  the  world's  gross  injustice  ; 
troubled,  some  of  us,  by  false  tongues,  tor- 
mented by  delusive  and  frustrate  hopes. 

"  Canst  thou  not  minister  to  a  mind  diseased, 

And  with  some  sweet  oblivious  antidote 
Cleanse  the  stuffed  bosom  of  that  perilous  stuff 
Which  weighs  upon  the  heart?" 

My  brethren,  in  this  matter  no  earthly  antidote, 
no  poppy  nor  mandragora  of  earth  will  help  you  ; 
but  there  are  such  antidotes  if  you  would  minister 
them  to  yourselves.  There  is  balm  in  Gilead  ; 
there  is  a  physician  there.  If  indeed  you  have 
a  sound  and  pure  body,  then  the  victory  over 
care  is  already  half  won.  Mind  and  body  are 
closely  associated.  A  diseased  or  disordered 
body  tends  to  make  a  troubled  mind,  for  if  you 


SERM.  VI.]  HUMAN  LIFE. 


217 


"  rumple  the  jerkin  you  rumple  also  the  jerkin's 
lining."  Very  many  of  our  cares  are  but 
vapours,  imaginary  miscr'cs,  morbid  egotisms, 
the  thick  intoxicating  fumes  of  smouldering 
vanities.  But  a  sound  body  goes  far  to  make 
a  sound  mind,  and  oh,  what  an  exquisite  gift 
is — or  must  I  say  "  might  have  been  "  — the 
mind  which  God  has  given  us.  What  a  blue 
sky  with  not  a  cloud  to  sully  it  in  infancy ;  how 
bright,  and  clear,  and  sunny  in  youth  ;  what  a 
picture  gallery  of  glorious  imagery  in  manhood  ; 
what  a  hallowed  temple  in  old  age,  with  the  light 
of  heaven  streaming  into  it  from  above  !  How 
many  of  our  minds  are  like  this  Alas  !  where 
is  even  the  temple  into  which  foul  things  do  not 
sometimes  intrude  t  Is  there  no  one  here  who 
must  rather  feel  that  his  mind  is  more  like  a 
cage  of  unclean  birds,  darkened  with  the  ob- 
scene wings  which  haunt  the  twilight.^  Do 
we  want  more  than  daily  experience  to  show 
us  in  how  many  minds  the  "sick  beast  of 
envy"  makes  its  lair.?  Are  there  many  of 
us   even   here   who   are   not   suffering  from, 


2l8 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  vi. 


who  are  not  weakened  by,  that  disease  of 
the  age — care,  fret,  worry,  over-work,  over- 
competition,  over-anxiety,  over-haste  to  get  rich, 
over-esteem  for  the  transient  and  perishing 
treasures  of  earth  ?  And  in  this  case  too,  my 
friends,  we  suffer  mainly  from  our  own  faults. 
Most  of  these  our  sufferings  are  self-inflicted. 
We  are  cruel  to  ourselves.  We  feather  the 
arrows  of  our  enemies,  and  make  the  wounds 
rankle,  which  otherwise  they  were  powerless  to 
inflict.  We  anticipate  misfortunes  which  never 
come.  We  brood  over  injuries  at  which  it 
would  have  been  far  wiser  to  smile.  We  neglect 
or  despise  the  joys  which  God  otherwise  would 
freely  give  us.  We  will  not  know  the  things 
which  make  for  our  peace,  and  in  things  which 
we  know  naturally,  like  brute  beasts  made  to 
be  taken  and  destroyed,  in  these  we  corrupt 
ourselves.  Ah,  how  true,  how  true  it  is  that 
Heaven  seems  to  be  "  everywhere  if  we  would 
but  enter  it,  and  yet  almost  nowhere,  because  so 
few  of  us  can."  Alas,  my  brethren,  all  this 
might  be  otherwise,  but  as  we  ruin  our  bodies 


SERM.  VI.]         HUMAN  LIFE. 


219 


by  excess  and  ignorance,  so  we  ruin  our  minds 
by  greed  and  care. 

"  O  purblind  race  of  miserable  men, 
How  many  among  us  at  this  very  hour 
Do  forge  a  lifelong  trouble  for  ourselves, 
By  taking  true  for  false,  or  false  for  true, 
Here  through  the  feeble  twilight  of  the  world 
Groping,  how  many,  until  we  pass  and  reach 
That  other  where  we  see  as  we  are  seen  ! " 

Have  you  never  observed,  my  brethren,  that,  in 
God's  great  goodness,  even  at  far  lower  levels 
than  those  of  spiritual  religion,  we  might  do 
very  very  much  to  lead  happier  and  better 
lives,  and  so  give  to  our  loving  Saviour  less 
cause  to  sigh It  is  not  only  from  the  heights 
of  religious  rapture  that  the  poets  sing, 

"  My  mind  to  me  a  kingdom  is  ; 
Such  perfect  joy  therein  I  find, 
That  it  excells  all  other  bliss 

Which  God  or  nature  hath  assigned  ; " 

or  again  the  noble  lyric — 

"  How  happy  is  he  born  and  taught 
Who  serveth  not  another's  will, 
Whose  armour  is  his  honest  thought, 
And  simple  truth  his  utm  st  skill." 


220 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  vi. 


Clear  thoughts,  bright  deeds,  a  simple,  healthy 
life,  a  firm  and  tender  nature,  candour,  charity, 
self-forgetfulness,  unaffected,  delicacy,  all  that 
distinguishes  the  gentleman  from  the  churl,  all 
that  distinguishes  the  pure  from  the  polluted, 
all  that  distinguishes  the  liberal  from  the 
niggardly,  these  secrets  of  a  mind  at  ease, — 
the  secrets  of  that  alchemy  which  can  secure 
every  grain  of  veritable  gold  which  life  has 
to  offer,  and  precipitate  its  dross, — are  not 
beyond  the  reach  of  even  an  enlightened 
heathen,  an  Epictetus  or  an  Aurelius.  But 
when  beside  all  this  a  man  is  a  Christian, 
then  indeed 

"  He  that  hath  light  within  his  own  clear  breast, 
May  sit  i'  the  centre  and  enjoy  clear  day." 

Why  do  even  we  who  profess  and  call  ourselves 
Christians  make  our  minds  miserable  by  care 
and  envy  as  we  make  our  bodies  miserable 
by  sin  ?  God  gives  us  bread,  and  we  turn  it 
into  a  stone.  We  drive  away  from  us  our 
best  friends  and  arm  our  enemies  with  scorpions. 


SERM.  VI.]         HUMAN  LIFE. 


221 


And  yet  surely  every  one  of  us  who  has  at  all 
realised  the  central  thoughts  of  Christianity,  and 
the  inner  meaning  of  the  Saviour's  life,  must  feel 
that  if  not  all  forms  of  care,  yet  all  those  forms 
of  earthly  care  which  are  most  potent  to  make 
man  wretched,  onglit  to  have  been  dispelled 
from  the  heart  of  him  who  has  listened  to  the 
calm  and  loving  invitation,  "  Come  unto  Me 
all  ye  that  labour  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I 
will  give  you  rest." 

Oh,  my  brethren,  that  we  would  win  this 
blessedness  !  that  we  would  learn  these  lessons  ! 
It  is  the  life  of  the  spirit  which  can  alone  make 
the  mind  noble  and  the  body  pure.  Walk  in 
the  spirit,  and  ye  shall  not  fulfil  the  lusts  of  the 
flesh.  That  joy  of  the  Holy  Ghost — even  if 
it  be  born  for  us  of  darkness  and  tribulations, 
— is  possible  to  us  all.  Let  us  not  accuse 
nature  or  fate  ;  nay,  let  us  accuse  ourselves. 
Are  we  unhappy }  if  so,  may  there  be  no  cause 
for  this  in  the  pride  which  despises,  the  supine- 
ness  which  will  not  grasp,  the  blindness  which 
will  not  see,  the  weakness  and  wickedness  which 


222 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  vi. 


deprave  and  defile  the  gifts  of  God  ?  or  may  it 
not  be  that  we  are  looking  for  happiness  in 
wrong  directions  ?  or  may  it  not  be  again,  that 
we  ought  to  be  willing  to  resign  happiness  and 
look  for  blessedness  instead  ?  and  are  there  any 
other  secrets  of  blessedness  but  love  to  God  and 
love  to  our  neighbour?  Why  should  we  hot 
try,  each  in  our  own  little  sphere,  to  make  the 
world  better  for  us,  to  utilise  and  subdue  its 
forces,  to  expel  its  loathliest  diseases,  to  cen- 
tuple its  noblest  sources  of  happiness,  to 
assuage  its  least  tolerable  pains?  If  this 
seem  too  grand  an  aim  for  our  feebleness, 
can  we  not  at  least  try  to  be  ourselves  humble 
and  forgiving,  diligent  and  faithful,  kind  and 
pure  of  heart  ?  We  can  ;  we  ought  ;  all 
that  we  lack  is  the  power  to  say  we  will. 
God  gives  that  power  as  He  gives  all  things 
else,  seeing  that  He  giveth  His  Holy  Spirit 
to  them  that  seek  Him.  The  laws  of  nature 
are  the  laws  of  God,  and  the  laws  of  God 
are  beneficent  laws.  If  man  is  so  miserable, 
if  all  creation  groans,  if  "the  world's  history 


SERM.  VI.]  HUMAN  LIFE. 


223 


is  the  world's  judgment," '  it  is  because  we 
refuse  the  lessons  of  nature,  and  violate  the 
commandments  of  God.  Oh,  let  us  try  to 
take  away  with  us  this  lesson, — not  only  for 
ourselves  individually,  but  in  order  better  to 
serve  our  brethren, — that  the  laws  of  health,  the 
laws  of  temperance,  the  laws  of  purity,  the  laws 
of  contentment,  will  lead  us  straight  back  upon 
the  road  to  the  paradise  of  God  ;  and  that  if, 
as  we  approach  its  gates,  God's  two  great 
Angels  of  Reason  and  Conscience  hold  us  by 
the  hand,  against  the  ingress  of  those  high 
powers  the  flaming  sword  of  the  Cherubim  will 
cease  to  wave ; — nay  the  Avenging  Cherubim 
will  bow  their  heads  before  them  ;  and,  guided 
and  blest,  our  path  will  lie  straight  onward  to 
the  Tree  of  Life. 

'  "Die  Weltgeschichte  ist  das  Weltofericht. " 

Schiller,  Resignation. 


SERMON  VII. 

LAST  LESSONS  FROM  THE 
SIGH  OF  CHRIST. 


1 


LAST  LESSONS  FROM  THE  SIGH  OF  CHRIST. 


O  Almighty  God,  who  alone  canst  order  the  unruly  wills  and 
affections  of  sinful  men,  grant  unto  Thy  people  that  they  may 
love  the  thing  which  Thou  commandest,  and  desire  that  which 
Thou  dost  promise,  that  so  among  the  sundry  and  manifold 
changes  of  the  world  our  hearts  may  surely  there  be  fixed  where 
true  joys  are  to  be  found,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 
Amen. 


"  And  Thou,  O  Lord,  by  whom  are  seen 
All  creatures  as  they  be ; 
Forgive  me  if  too  close  I  lean 
My  human  heart  on  Thee." 


SERMON  VII. 


Mark  vii.  34. 
"  And  looking  up  to  heaven.  He  sighed,  and  saith  unto  hits 
Ephphatha,  that  is,  Be  opened." 

I  SHOULD  be  glad,  my  brethren,  if  to-day  we 
could  in  any  degree  sum  up  and  enforce  that 
one  main  thought,  which  in  its  various  apph- 
cations  has  occupied  us  on  these  Sunday  after- 
noons. For  that  reason,  I  end  with  the  text 
with  which  I  began  and  which  suggested  the 
considerations  which  we  have  tried  to  pass  in 
review.  Those  considerations  have  never,  I 
trust,  for  one  moment  lost  sight  of  the  one 
central  truth  of  Christianity, — that  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  is  our  Light  and  our  Life ;  the 
Word  made  flesh  ;  the  Son  of  God,  the  Saviour 
of  the  world.  We  believe  that  God  is  love,  and 
we  look  to  Jesus,  the  author  and  finisher  of  our 
faith,  as  to  Him  who  revealed  to  us  the  inmost 


230 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  vii. 


heart  of  God  towards  us.  He,  being  in  the  form 
of  God,  came  on  earth  to  be  a  man  with  men ; 
He  taught  us  how  to  live,  and  made  us  not  fear 
to  die ;  He  came  to  work  out,  by  the  one  sacri- 
fice of  Himself  once  offered,  a  thousandfold  re- 
demption ;  to  restore  for  us  the  broken  harmonies 
of  life  ;  to  ransom  us  from  the  thraldom  of  sin  ; 
to  cast  down  Satan  as  lightning  from  heaven  ;  to 
give  power  to  all  who  receive  Him  that  they 
should  become  the  sons  of  God.  It  was,  we 
believe,  the  cross  of  Christ  which  alone  has  made 
possible  the  amelioration  of  the  world.  Human 
nature,  conquered,  ruined,  and  debased,  mas- 
tered by  its  lowest  instincts,  enslaved  by  its 
most  dangerous  passions,  had,  even  apart  from 
revelation,  long  dreamt  of  such  a  deliverer,  and 
long  yearned  for  him.  We  trace  that  yearning 
in  Plato  and  in  Virgil,  in  the  despair  of  pagan 
philosophy  and  in  the  aspirations  of  pagan 
song.'  We  trace  it  even  in  those  legends  of  the 
old  mythology   which   were   the  unconscious 

'"EcDI  %.v  6  flebt  OUTOI  aitoKiarf  ijjuas. — PLATO,  Phcud.  379.  (See 
Ackeronam,  Das  ChristlUhe  im  Plato,  pp.  21 — 75;  Schneider, 


SERM.  vii.J        LAST  LESSONS. 


prophecies  of  heathendom.  That  is  one  reason 
why  so  often  in  the  catacombs  the  early 
Christians  adopted  Orpheus  as  the  type  of  Christ 
— because  the  lyre  of  Orpheus  made  music 
through  the  world,  tamed  the  savagencss  of  the 
wild  beasts,  and  lulled  even  the  pangs  of  Erebus. 
In  our  own  National  Gallery  you  may  see  the 
splendid  picture  in  which  the  greatest  of  English 
painters  has  given  us  from  Greek  legend  another 
symbol  of  the  work  of  Christ.  ,It  is  Turner's 
picture  of  Apollo  slaying  the  Python.  Apollo 
was  the  god  of  life,  of  light,  and  of  the  sun  ; 
the  python  was  the  monster  of  midnight  and 
corruption.  That  serpent  monster,  with  his  huge 
folds,  crowds  and  darkens  one  whole  side  of 
the  picture,  crashing  rocks  and  trees  before 
him  into  frightful  chaos,  looking  horrible  in 

Christlkhe  Kldiige,  pp.  158,  244.)  "  Nemo  per  se  satis  valet 
nt  emergat ;  oportet  manum  aliquis  porrigat,  aliquis  educat." — 
Sen.  Ep.  52.  "Aliquem  habeat  animus  quem  vereatur,  cujus 
auctoritate  etiam  secretum  suum  sanctius  faciat." — Id.  Ep.  II, 
6.  See  .(Esch.  Prom.  1026 — 1030  ;  Virg.  Eel.  iv.,  &c.  On  this 
subject  see  Archbishop  Trench's  Hulsean  Lectures  on  the 
Unconscious  Prophecies  of  Ileatlundom. 


232 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  vii. 


loathliness,  yet  irresistible  in  strength.  On 
the  other  side  of  the  picture  kneels,  bow 
in  hand,  a  radiant  figure, — the  figure  of  the 
youthful  sun-god  ;  and,  as  his  bowstring  twangs, 
arrow  after  arrow  of  light  hurtles  into  the 
monster's  wounded  bulk,  and  as  you  look  closer 
you  see  that,  for  all  his  awfulness  and  strength, 
he  is  but  bursting  asunder  in  the  midst,  writh- 
ing vainly  in  the  agonies  of  death.  From  his 
blood,  indeed,  as  it  streams  forth,  in  one  corner 
of  the  picture,  is  springing  into  life  a  little 
asp,  which  is  darting  away  unnoticed.  The 
intensely  venomous  gleam  of  that  fiery  serpent 
represents  the  heathen  sense  of  despair,  the 
painter's  awful  feeling  of  the  apparently  in- 
extinguishable vitality  of  evil,  the  imperfection 
of  deliverance,  the  unendingness  of  sin  and 
anguish.'      But  in  the  promise    of  Paradise, 

'  The  Python  means  The  Corrupter.  "  Apollo's  contest 
with  him  in  the  strife  of  purity  with  pollution  ;  of  life  with 
forgetfulness  ;  of  love  with  the  grave  .  .  .  This  dragon  of  decay 
is  a  mere  colossal  worm  :  wounded,  he  bursts  asunder  in  the 
midst,  and  melts  to  pieces  rather  than  dies,  vomiting  smoke — a 
smaller  serpent-worm  rising  rut  of  his  blood.    Alas  for  Turner  ! 


SERM.  VII.]        LAST  LESSONS. 


233 


when  the  work  of  the  seed  of  the  woman  shall 
be  completed,  1  nowhere  see  it  said,  that  from 
the  crushed  head  of  the  serpent  shall  break 
forth  the  cockatrice.  In  the  new  heaven  and 
the  new  earth,  in  the  restitution  of  all  things, 
in  the  fresh  creation  of  the  world,  when  even 
the  personified  abstractions  of  shadowy  beings 
— Death  and  Hades — have  been  flung  into  the 
lake  of  fire,  we  are  told  that  there  shall  be  no 
more  curse,  and  that  God  shall  be  all  in  all. 
Let  all  men  interpret  these  glorious  promises  of 
the  future  by  such  light  as  God  may  give  them. 
I  do  not  in  the  least  care  to  question  or  dispute 
the  limitations  which  others  may  feel  compelled 
to  attach  to  them.  Our  present  thoughts  are 
purely  practical.  We  all  alike  agree  that  we 
see  not  yet  all  things  put  under  Christ.  Wc 
see  that  as  yet  the  enemies  are  very  strong 
which  He  has  left  it  to  us  to  conquer;  the  work 

This  smaller  serpent-worm,  it  seemed,  he  could  not  conceive  to 
be  slain.  In  the  midst  of  all  the  power  and  beauty  of  nature, 
he  still  saw  this  death-worm  writhing  amid  the  weeds  .  .  .  He 
was  without  hope.'' — RusKIN,  Modern  Painters,  v.  328. 


234 


EPHPHATHA. 


[SERM.  VII. 


very  vast  which  He  has  bidden  us  carry  to  its 
close.  Nearly  nineteen  centuries  have  sped  away 
since  the  great  Sacrifice  was  offered  on  Calvary, 
and  we  are  living  still  in  a  world  of  error  and 
ignorance,  of  misery  and  sin.  And  yet  we  do 
not  despair.  When  the  deep  gloom  settled 
down  on  Calvary,  when  the  disciples  had  for- 
saken Him  and  fled,  when  priests  and  rulers, 
Jews  and  Gentiles,  the  soldiers  and  the  mob, 
nay,  even  the  crucified  robbers  at  His  side,  had 
all  been  joining  in  insult  and  execration,  when 
for  one  awful  moment  it  seemed  as  if  even  His 
Father  had  forsaken  Him,  He,  the  Son  of  man 
and  the  Son  of  God,  was  still  the  Lord,  the 
Victor,  the  Deliverer,  and  His  "  It  is  finished  !" 
was  the  cry  of  triumph.  That  triumph,  though 
still  but  partial,  shall  hereafter  be  universal. 
From  the  gloomy  background  of  history,  from 
the  clouds  and  darkness  which  so  often  seem 
to  settle  down  on  our  human  lives,  the  eye  of 
faith  not  only  sees  that  cross  stand  out  in  holy 
light,  but  over  it  and  around  it  we  still  read 
the  name  of  Him  who  died  thereon,  and  the 


SERM.  vii.J        LAST  LESSONS. 


235 


promise  of  the  vision  which  the  first  Christian 
emperor  wove  in  letters  of  gold  upon  his 
labarum,  ''By  this  thou  slialt  conquer ' 

But  the  endurance  of  the  cross  was  only 
the  last  act  of  the  life  of  Christ  ;  and  we  must 
look  on  that  life  as  meant  in  every  word  of  it 
for  our  enlightenment,  in  every  act  of  it  for  our 
example.  Not  one  of  those  acts  was  imperfect, 
not  one  of  those  words  insignificant;  and  we 
have  been  trying  to  see  what  we  could  learn  from 
the  one  act  and  word  of  our  Lord  when,  with 
an  upward  glance  of  prayer,  He  sighed  and  said 
"  Ephphatha,"  "  be  thou  opened."  That  touch 
showed  His  miraculous  power  ;  that  sigh  His 
infinite  compassion  ;  that  word  His  active  in- 
tervention to  heal  the  miseries  which  awoke  His 
sorrow.  Not  to  that  poor  sufferer  only,  but  to 
us,  to  all  mankind.  He  seems  to  say,  "  Thou  art 
deaf,  and  canst  not  hear ;  dumb,  and  canst  not 

'  "  Christus  purpureum  gemmanti  textus  in  auro 
Signabat  labarum,  clipeorum  insignia  Christus 
Scripserat  :  ardebat  summis  crux  adHita  cristis. " 

— Prudent,  in  Symmach.  ii.  484. 


236 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  vii. 


speak  ;  thy  whole  being  is  closed,  and  hampered, 
and  spoiled,  and  maimed  ;  "  EpJiphatJia,  be  thou 
opened  ;  opened  now  at  My  word  ;  opened  com- 
pletely and  for  ever  ! " '  Rejoice,  oh  sinful,  oh 
mourning,  oh  afflicted  humanity  !  Let  the  eyes 
of  the  blind  be  opened  and  the  ears  of  the 
deaf  unstopped  ;  let  the  lame  man  leap  as  a 
hart,  and  the  tongue  of  the  dumb  sing,  and  say 
to  them  which  are  of  fearful  heart,  Fear  not,  be 
strong  ! 

This  was  the  work  and  mission  of  Christ ;  and 
He  has  bidden  us  to  carry  it  on.  But  it  is 
useless,  it  is  worse  than  useless,  for  it  is  an 
evil  hypocrisy  thus  to  say  "  Lord,  Lord,"  yet 
not  to  do,  or  try  to  do  the  things  which  He 
says.  It  is  a  perilous  falsehood  to  preach  in 
His  name,  yet  to  have  nothing  of  His  spirit ; 
to  worship  in  His  tabernacle,  yet  only  to  lay 
upon  His  altar  the  unhallowed  incense  of  pride, 
and  to  kindle  it  with  the  fuming  fire  of  vice 
and  hate.     If  we  truly  love  Him,  if  we  love 

■  Such  i5  the  full  meaning  of  lia.voi.\6r\Ti. 


SERM.  VII.]        LAST  LESSONS. 


237 


one  another  as  He  gave  us  commandment, 
what  have  we  to  do  in  life  ?  what  must  we 
learn  from  His  sigh  and  from  His  act  ? 

We  might  learn,  my  friends,  far  more  than 
any  or  all  of  us  can  ever  know,  or  see,  or 
teach  ;  but  surely  that  small  fragment  of  what 
we  have  tried  to  see  on  previous  Sundays  may 
be  summed  up  in  the  three  eternal  duties  of 
compassion,  of  energy,  of  hope. 

I.  We  learn  the  duty  of  compassion.  Is  it  a 
duty  too  obvious  on  which  to  dwell  ?  Would 
to  God  it  were  as  common  in  reality  as  it  is 
in  profession !  There  has  been,  and  is,  very 
little  of  true  pity  in  the  world.  The  world  has 
in  all  ages  deeply  needed,  and  in  this  age  still 
deeply  needs,  the  lesson  of  pity.  That  the 
ancient  heathen  needed  it  amid  their  horrible 
cruelty  and  injustice  to  slaves  and  gladiators, 
and  with  their  best  philosophers  ranking  pity 
as  a  vice,'  I  need  not  stop  to  prove.'    But  the 

»  See  Cic.  Tuse.  Disp.  iv.  14,  §  32. 

»  I  have  touched  on  this  suliject  in  my  Hulsean  Lectures,  The 
Witnen  of  History  to  Christ,  pp.  9S— 114. 


238 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  vir. 


ancient  Jew  also  needed  it.  Though  there 
were  in  his  Mosaic  legislation  divine  lessons 
of  mercy  and  tenderness,  there  was  enough 
also  of  concession  to  ignorance  and  hardness 
of  heart  to  make  our  Lord  say,  "Ye  have 
heard  that  it  hath  been  said,  '  An  eye  for  an 
eye,  a  tooth  for  a  tooth,'  but  I  say  to  you, 
that  ye  resist  not  evil.  .  .  .  Ye  have  heard 
that  it  hath  been  said  .  .  .  '  Thou  shalt  hate 
thine  enemy,'  but  I  say  unto  you.  Love  your 
enemies."  The  Jew  was  the  religious  man  of 
antiquity,  but  in  the  hands  of  Scribes  and 
Pharisees  his  religion  had,  alas !  degenerated 
into  a  religion  of  hatreds.  The  very  type 
of  that  religion  in  Christ's  day,  its  professed 
orthodoxy,  its  avowed  theology,  was  the  re- 
ligion of  the  Pharisee.  The  high  priests  of 
Judaism  at  that  time  were  Sadducees ;  but 
its  accredited  teachers,  its  learned  theologians, 
its  respected  rabbis,  its  orthodox  expounders, 
they  who  sat  in  Moses's  seat,  they  who  gave 
it  out  as  the  very  function  of  their  lives  to 
detect   and   exclude   heresy,   by   making  an 


SERM.  vn.]        LAST  LESSONS. 


239 


impregnable  hedge  around  God's  word,'  they 
were  the  Pharisees.  Was  t/teir  religion  a  religion 
of  compassion  ?  I  say  that  it  was  a  religion 
of  hatred  and  contempt.  They  despised  women, 
and  held  their  robes  so  as  not  to  touch  them 
when  they  passed ;  they  despised  the  unlearned, 
and  called  them  empty  cisterns  ;  they  despised 
the  poor,  and  were  avaricious  and  oppressive  ; 
they  despised  the  people,  who  they  said  knew 
not  the  law  and  were  accursed  ;  they  hated  the 
Sadducee,  because  he  opposed  their  influence  ; 
they  hated  the  Samaritan,  because  he  did  not 
accept  their  temple  ;  they  hated  the  Gentiles, 
and  called  them  dogs  ;  they  hated  the  disciples 
because  they  had  listened  to  the  voice  of  truth  ; 
they  hated  the  Lord  Himself  because  He  re- 
jected their  ablutions  and  scrupulosities,  and 
told  them  that  their  loud  professions  were  but  the 
disguise  of  violence,  of  corruption,  and  of  self.^ 
Do  you  wonder  that  Christ  said  again  and  again 

'  Pirke  Abhoth,  i.     "  Make  a  hedge  around  the  Law." 

=  Those  only  who  are  entirely  ignorant  of  the  subject  will  say 
that  one  single  expression  in  this  passage  is  exaggerated.  It 
would  be  easy  to  refer  to  whole  pages  of  the  Gospels,  and  to 


240 


EPHPHA  THA .  [serm.  vii. 


to  these  professors  and  theologians,  "  Woe  unto 
you,  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypocrites  !  "  What 
is  it  but  hypocrisy  when  httle  remains  to  mark 
the  religious  man  but  an  intense  spite  against 
those  who  cannot  accept  his  shibboleths  ;  an 
exceptional  bitterness  in  blackening  and  per- 
secuting those  who,  in  some  outlying  question, 
differ  from  himself?  But  woe  to  that  religion, 
aye,  all  woes  of  the  Mountain  of  Beatitudes,  to 
that  religion  which,  however  dominant  it  may 
seem,  has  degenerated  into  a  religion  of  hatreds. 
It  is  salt  that  has  lost  its  savour.  It  is  neither 
fit  for  the  land  nor  yet  for  the  dunghill.  It  is 
fit  only  to  be  trampled  under  foot. 

And  if  the  world  in  Christ's  day  needed 
the  lesson  of  compassion,  does  the  world  less 
need  it  now }  Is  there  among  us  no  cruel 
selfishness  of  pleasure  no  cruel  luxury  of 
riches  Is  there  no  cruel  gratification  of  pas- 
sion,  pitilessly   ignoring   the    anguish   of  its 

scores  of  passages  in  the  Talmttd  in  proof  of  every  sentence. 
Some  illustration  may  be  found  in  my  Life  of  Christ,  vol.  i. 
pp.  440-448;  ii.  471-474. 


SEFM.  VII.]        LAST  LESSONS. 


241 


victims?  No  cruel  pursuit  of  gain,  recklessly 
indifferent  to  the  ruin  of  its  dupes  ?  And  have 
priests  and  theologians  never  degraded  Chris- 
tianity also  into  a  religion  of  hatreds  ?  Answer 
even  now  the  tone  of  their  so-called  religious 
controversy,  with  its  glaring  injustice,  its  fierce 
innuendoes,  its  acrid  jealousies,  its  unblushing 
falsehoods.  Answer  that  "  theological  hatred," 
which  has  passed  into  a  proverb  for  the  most 
implacable  of  hatreds.  Answer  page  on 
page,  disowned  now,  but  standing  there  as  a 
witness  against  them,  of  exultant,  of  pitiless 
description  of  unutterable  torments.  .Answer, 
in  days  not  so  far  removed,  the  savage  perse- 
cution of  well  nigh  every  great  soul  which 
has  had  new  truths  to  utter,  or  old  truths  to 
call  forth  from  oblivion.  Answer  the  cords 
wherewith  it  has  strangled,  the  rocks  down 
which  it  has  hurled,  the  fires  in  which  it  has 
clicked  out  the  voice  of  truth.  Oh,  as  the 
corruption  of  the  best  is  ever  the  worst,  so  has 
the  corruption  of  religion  in  the  hands  of  many 
of  its  votaries  been  the  pregnant  curse  of  man- 

R 


242 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  vii. 


kind.  And  though  the  mode  of  persecution 
is  altered,  though  God's  unrecognised  prophets 
have  wrung  from  reluctant  Pharisees  the  un- 
willing boon  of  liberty  and  toleration,  the 
world  still  needs  to  learn — the  so-called  "  reli- 
gious "  world  needs  most  of  all  to  learn— the 
meaning  of  the  fact  that  the  denunciation  of 
the  Saviour  fell  on  one  class,  and  one  alone  ; 
and  that  not  on  the  erring  and  the  ignorant ; 
not  on  publicans  or  harlots  ;  not  on  Samaritans 
or  even  Sadducees ;  but  on  the  one  class  of 
hard,  anathematising  Pharisees,  the  class  which 
can  be  most  briefly  described  as  that  of  love- 
less religionists.  We  profess  and  call  ourselves 
Christians ;  have  we  yet  learnt  the  simplest 
and  earliest  element  in  the  sigh  of  the  Saviour 
the  divineness  of  mercy,  of  compassion,  and  of 
love  ? 

2.  Yet  we  must  learn  the  lesson  not  of 
compassion  only,  but  of  energy  therewith. 
Compassion  which  ends  in  compassion  may 
be  nothing  more  than  the  luxury  of  egotism  ; 
but  the  sigh  of  Jesus  was  but   an  instant's 


SERM.  VII.]        LAST  LESSONS. 


243 


episode  in  a  life  of  toil.  If  His  sigh  binds 
us  to  pity  all  sin  and  all  sorrow,  it  binds  us 
no  less  to  bend  every  effort  of  our  lives  towards 
the  end  that  sin  may  cease  and  be  forgiven, 
and  sorrow  flee  away. 

For  instance,  the  world  lieth  in  Heathendom. 
Seven  hundred  millions  of  the  human  race 
know  not  the  true  God,  and  have  not  called 
upon  His  name.  The  sigh  of  Christ  pledges 
us  to  send  to  them  or  to  carry  to  them  the 
witness  of  His  Gospel,  to  tell  them  the  glad 
tidings  of  His  salvation. 

The  world  is  liable  to  terrible  calamities. 
The  sigh  of  Christ  pledges  us  to  learn  the 
secrets,  to  obey  the  laws  which  may  avert  or 
diminish  them  ;  to  do  our  utmost  by  wise  care, 
and  enlightened  understanding,  and  faithful 
self-government  to  lessen  to  the  utmost  of  our 
power  every  remediable  misery  of  mankind. 

The  world  is  full  of  sorrow.  The  sigh  of 
Christ  pledges  us  as  our  first  duty  not  to  add 
to  that  sorrow,  either  actively  or  passively, 
either  directly  or  indirectly,  by  our  pride  or 


244 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  vh. 


self-indulgence,  by  cruelty  or  malice,  for  our 
gain  or  our  gratification,  by  taking  unfair 
advantages,  or  by  speaking  false  arid  bitter 
and  unwholesome  words. 

The  world  is  full  of  disease.  The  sigh  of 
Christ  pledges  us  not  only  to  be  gentle,  and 
sympathetic,  and  helpful  to  all  who  are  afflicted, 
but  also  to  strive  by  pureness  and  kindness,  by 
high  example  and  sound  knowledge,  to  improve 
the  conditions  which  shall  make  life  sweet  and 
healthy,  cheerful  and  genial,  vigorous  and  pure. 
It  pledges  us  by  every  means  in  our  power 
to  find  for  ourselves  and  for  others  the  blessed 
secrets  of  a  sound  body  in  temperance,  sober- 
ness, and  chastity ;  of  a  sound  mind  in  that 
setting  our  affections  on  things  above  which 
is  the  best  remedy  for  earthly  care. 

Lastly,  the  world  is  full  of  sin.  The  sigh 
of  Christ  pledges  us  ourselves  to  keep  inno- 
cency  and  do  the  thing  that  is  right  ;  to  do 
our  utmost  to  suppress  all  sins  that  are  nation- 
ally preventible  ;  not  to  set  examples  which 
lead  to  sin;  not  to  disseminate  the  causes  of 


SERM.  VII.]        LAST  LESSONS. 


245 


sin  ;  to  lead  men,  both  by  our  life  and  doctrine, 
to  that  Saviour  who  died  for  sin,  and  who  can 
alone  forgive  it,  and  cleanse  us  from  its  guilt 
and  power. 

And  if  so,  as  we  have  the  creed  of  our  faith, 
ought  we  not  also  to  have  the  vow  of  our 
practice }  and  ought  it  not  to  run  somewhat 
as  follows } — Seeing  that  God  loves  us,  that 
He  desires  our  happiness,  that  He  has  given 
us  our  lives  to  be  spent  in  His  service,  that 
He  sent  His  Son  to  die  for  us  and  to  save  us  ; — 
seeing  that  this  world  might  be  made  a  far 
happier  place,  and  life  a  far  more  blessed  state 
than  it  is  if  men  were  wise,  and  pure,  and  true 
to  each  other,  or  even  if  they  were  not  to  each 
other  the  sorest,  surest  ill,— therefore,  for  His 
sake  who  died  for  me  and  pitied  me,  I  too  will 
be  compassionate  and  active  for  my  brother 
man.  I  will  pray  for  him  as  my  Saviour 
prayed,  and  work  for  him  as  my  Saviour 
worked.  If  he  hates  me,  I  will  still  try  to 
love  him.  The  man  who  has  slandered  or 
injured  me,   openly  or  in  secret,   even  him 


246 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  vii. 


will  I  meet  with  frank  kindness  and  entire 
forgiveness.  I  will  keep  my  tongue  from  every 
species  and  variety  of  evil  speaking,  lying^ 
and  slandering.  I  will  neither  write  nor  cause 
to  be  written,  either  with  my  name  or  without 
my  name,  any  unworthy  satire,  or  sneer,  or 
sarcasm,  which  shall  cause  needless  pain.  "  I 
will  not  deceive  nor  cause  to  be  deceived,  nor 
hurt  nor  cause  to  be  hurt,  nor  rob  nor  cause 
to  be  robbed,  any  human  being  for  my  gain 
or  pleasure." '  I  will  be  dihgent  in  man's 
service  whether  he  accept  or  refuse  my  efforts, 
I  will  believe  evil  of  no  one  unless  I  am  forced 
to  believe  it,  and  I  will  put  a  bad  construc- 
tion on  nothing  while  a  good  is  possible.  I  will 
be  kind  to  many,  will  wish  to  be  kind  to  all, 
will  do  harm  consciously  to  none.  I  will  think 
and  let  think.  I  will  bear  and  forbear.  I  will 
forgive  even  a  difference  of  opinion.  I  will 
be  ashamed  of  nothing  but  sin.  I  will  love,  I 
will  honour,  I  will  labour  for  man  my  brother. 


'  Ruskin,  Fors  Clavigera. 


SERM.  VII.]        LAST  LESSONS. 


247 


because  God  loves  us  who  is  our  Father,  and 
Christ  died  for  us  who  is  the  first-born  in  this 
great  family  of  man. 

3.  My  brethren,  he  who  lives  thus,  will  not 
have  lived  in  vain.  He  may  be  poor,  he  may 
be  despised,  he  may  have  seen  hundreds  of 
weaker  men,  and  worse  men,  grow  rich  and 
successful,  and  beat  him  in  what  is  called  the 
race  of  life  ;  but  assuredly  he  shall  find  the 
life  which  for  Christ's  sake  he  seems  to  have 
lost.  And  let  no  one  say,  "  I  am  nobody,  I 
know  nothing  ;  every  one  scorns  me  ;  what  can 
I  do } "  Little  may  be  much,  my  brother. 
The  widow's  two  farthings  were  more  than  the 
gifts  which  the  rich  cast  into  the  treasury. 
Who  knows  how  much  God  may  increase  and 
multiply  our  miserable  quota  towards  the 
stream  of  human  improvement  ?  After  all,  it 
is  but  the  dewdrops  and  the  raindrops  which 
go  to  make  the  mighty  river  and  the  mighty 
sea.  The  poor  lad  took  with  him  but  five 
barley-loaves  and  two  small  fishes,  and  lo  ! 
they  fed  all  the  hungry  multitude  !    If  we  do 


24S 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  vii. 


but  save  our  own  soul,  if  we  help  to  save 
but  one  other  soul,  how  precious  a  work  is 
that !  how  dear  to  God  !  God  cares  for  the 
individual.  He  cares  for  every  one  of  you.  It 
is  the  characteristic  of  an  immoral  tyranny  to 
deal  only  with  men  in  masses ;  but  no  true 
child  of  God  can  merge  the  individual  in  the 
class.  Every  soul  is  precious  to  Him,  because 
every  soul  is  one  for  which  Christ  died.  There 
could  be  no  surer  proof  that  the  religious  life  of 
the  Pharisee  of  every  age  is  a  false  religious  life 
than  that  it  is  ever  characterised  by  a  hideous 
selfishness.  The  Pharisee  said,  "  Of  what  con- 
sequence are  the  dogs  of  the  Gentiles  "i"  Christ 
said,  "  Go  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every 
creature."  The  Pharisee  said,  "  Thank  God  I 
am  not  as  the  publican."  Christ  said  that  the 
publican  went  down  to  his  house  justified  rather 
than  the  other.  The  Pharisee  used  the  name 
Samaritan  as  his  term  of  bitterest  reproach  ; 
Christ  chose  the  Good  Samaritan  as  the  type 
of  the  highest  virtue.  The  Pharisee  said, 
Moses   commanded    that    "  such    as    she  be 


SERM.  VII.]        LAST  LESSONS. 


249 


stoned  ;  "  Christ  saw  in  her  a  soul  to  be  saved, 
and  said  to  her  gently,  "  Go,  and  sin  no  more." 
Realise  but  this,  that  "we  are  all  His  off- 
spring;" that  it  is  not  His  wish  that  one  of  us 
should  perish  ;  that  if  we  but  help  to  save  one 
soul  we  shall  have  given  a  fresh  joy  to  the 
angels  in  heaven;  realise  but  that  one  truth, 
and  even  that  may  enable  us  to  escape  the 
average,  to  arise  above  impurity,  and  false- 
hood, and  sordidness  into  something  higher 
and  more  heroical,  into  some  share  in  the 
sorrow  and  the  joy  of  Christ. 

4.  And  when  I  think  on  all  this,  when  I 
remember  that  love  is  "  not  so  much  a  virtue 
as  a  substratum  of  all  virtues,  the  virtue  of 
virtue,  the  goodness  of  goodness  ; "  when  I 
think  that  "God  is  love;"  when  I  read  that, 
amid  the  unnumbered  choirs  of  heaven,  each 
shall  retain  his  individual  life,  and  have  a  name 
which  none  knoweth  but  himself;  when  I  see 
the  latent  germs  and  possibilities  of  goodness 
which  exist  even  in  the  worst;  when  I  think 
that  a  wretched,  sinful  man  is  but  the  marred 


250 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  vii. 


clay  of  some  sweet,  innocent,  and  lovely  child  ; 
when  I  read  how  Jesus  so  loved  our  race  that 
He  left  the  glory  of  Heaven  to  die  amid  its 
execration  ;  when  the  Gospels  tell  me  Who 
it  is  that  searches  for  the  lost  sheep  until  He 
find  it ;  Who  wept  on  the  neck  of  the  prodigal, 
Who  suffered  the  harlot  to  bathe  His  feet  with 
tears ;  Who  prayed  for  His  murderers ;  Who 
with  one  look  of  tenderness  broke  the  heart 
of  His  backsliding  apostle;  Who  in  one  flash 
of  forgiveness  made  of  the  crucified  robber  a 
saint  of  God: — when  the  boundless  promises 
of  Scripture  crowd  upon  my  mind ; — when  I 
recall  the  hymn  which  we  sing — 

"  Mine  is  an  unchanging  love, 
Higher  than  the  heights  above, 
Deeper  than  the  depths  beneath. 
True  and  faithful,  strong  as  death," — 

when  I  read  that  God  will  not  forget  His 
people,  though  the  mother  may  forget  her  suck- 
ing child ; — then  there  come  into  my  mind  two 
thoughts,  with  which  I  will  conclude. 


SERM.  VII.]        LAST  LESSONS. 


(a)  One  thought  is  the  thought  of  Jiope  for 
ourselves ; — the  perfect  confidence  with  which 
each  one  of  us  may  throw  ourselves  upon  His 
love  ;  the  infinite  conviction  with  which  we  may- 
each  of  us  say,  "  Christ  died  for  me."  How 
many  of  us  here  present  feel  and  know  our- 
selves to  be  defeated  men  ?  We  have  not  been 
good,  we  have  not  done  good.  We  are  not 
what  we  might  have  been.  We  are  not  worthy 
to  live.  Our  knowledge  is  ignorance ;  our 
wisdom  foolishness  ;  our  very  tears  want  wash- 
ing. Well,  my  brethren,  then  we  are  the  very 
ones — the  Gentiles,  the  Samaritans,  the  lost, 
the  outcast,  the  sinners,  the  prodigals — whom 
Christ  came  to  save.  And  He  is  Cliristus  con- 
solator — Christ  the  consoler  ;  Christ  the  Good 
Physician  ;  Christ  the  Saviour  and  Healer  of 
the  world.  Go  to  Him  in  confidence,  my 
brethren,  for  He  is  tender  to  pity  and  strong 
to  save.  Go  to  Him,  young  man,  the  slave 
and  victim  of  evil  passions,  and  ask  Him  to 
save  you  from  yourself.  Go  to  Him,  guilty 
and  despairing  sufferer  ;  go  to  Him,  careworn 


252 


EPHPUATHA.  [sERM.  VII. 


toiler ;  go  to  Him,  sick  and  weary  sinner,  since 
it  was  exactly  for  you — for  the  helpless  who 
feel  their  helplessness,  for  the  guilty  who  know 
their  guilt— that  Jesus  died.  His  office  is  to 
save,  ours  to  look  to  Him  for  help.  "  If  passion 
rises  in  thee,  go  to  Him  as  a  demoniac. 
If  deadness  creeps  upon  thee,  go  as  a 
paralytic.  If  dissipation  comes,  go  as  a  lunatic. 
If  darkness  clouds  thy  face,  go  as  a  Barti- 
maeus.  And  when  thou  prayest,  go  always 
as  a  leper,  crying  as  Isaiah  did,  '  unclean ! 
unclean  ! '  "  ' 

(/3)  And  the  other  thought  is  one  of  hope 
for  all  the  world.  Who  was  it  that  sighed 
and  said,  "  Ephphatha,  be  opened  "  }  Ah ! 
it  takes  the  fourfold  gospel  to  answer  that 
question.  It  was  He  whom  St.  Matthew 
set  forth  as  the  Divine  Messiah  who  ful- 
filled the  past  ;  and  St.  Mark  as  the  Son 
of  God,  filling  with  power  and  awfulness 
the  present ;  and  St.  Luke  as  the  Seeker 
and  Saviour,  to  all  ages,  of  the  lost  ;  and  St. 

■  Berridge. 


SERM.  VII.]        LAST  LESSONS. 


253 


John,  in  the  spiritual  gospel,  as  the  Incarnate 
Word.    It  was 

"  The  very  God—KhknV,  Abib  !— dost  thou  think?" 

My  brethren,  it  is  this  thought  that  gives 
me  hope.  An  awful  silence  hangs  over  the 
grave.  God's  judgments  are  a  great  deep.  It 
may  be — I  for  one  have  never  questioned  it — 
that  even  if  there  be  mercy  beyond  the  grave — 
it  may  be,  I  say,  that  j'our  soul  and  mine  may 
perish,  and  perish  for  ever  and  ever.  Yet  if  all 
that  men  have  said  be  true ;  if,  indeed,  the 
vast  majority  of  mankind  be  doomed  for  ever, 
without  an  end  and  without  a  respite,  to  incon- 
ceivable horrors — then  I  confess  my  own  utter 
inability  to  see  how  in  this  the  blessed,  pitying 
Saviour  could  see  of  the  travail  of  His  soul 
and  be  satisfied.  Answer  me  before  God, 
answer  me  in  the  depths  of  your  consciences, 
answer  me  without  subterfuge  or  periphrasis, — 
which  is  most  like  the  heart  of  Jesus,  as  re- 
vealed in  the  Incarnation  and  the  Cross— the 
oft-repeated  thought  of  theologians,  from  the 


254 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  vu. 


days  of  Tertullian  to  those  of  Jonathan  Edwards, 
that  the  saints  in  their  blessedness  shall  gaze 
unmoved,  nay,  even  with  rejoicing,  upon  the 
everlasting  tortures  of  the  damned,  or  the  cry 
of  the  poet : — 

"  Is  heaven  so  high 
,        That  pity  cannot  enter  there? 
Its  happy  eyes  for  ever  dry, 
Its  holy  lips  without  a  prayer? 
My  God,  my  God,  if  thither  led 
By  Thy  free  grace  unmerited, 
No  palm  or  crown  be  mine,  but  let  me  keep 
A  heart  that  still  can  feel,  and  eyes  that  still  can  w  eep "  ? 

It  may  not  be  the  language  of  the  cowering 
slave,  but  surely  it  is  the  language  of  the  trust- 
ful, loving  son  to  our  Father  in  Heaven.  Ah 
my  brethren,  leave  this  question  out  of  sight 
altogether  if  you  will.  Let  each  hold  re- 
specting it  what  he  is  taught  of  God.  Let 
each  be  thoroughly  convinced  in  his  own  mind. 
Hard  dogma  may  be  forced  upon  the  soul  by 
the  terrors  of  rack  and  flame ;  but  hope  is 
a  lily  of  the  valley  which  can  grow  only  in 
the  humble  hearts  where  God  shall  plant  it. 
For  myself,  while  I  ever  bear  in  mind  who  it 


SERM.  VII.]        LAST  LESSONS. 


255 


was  who  sighed  for  the  sorrow  and  sin  of  many, 
I  will  not  cease  to  believe  that  as  man's  work 
here  is  a  work  of  pity  and  of  energy,  because  it 
is  a  work  of  hope ;  so  it  may  be  permitted  us 
to  believe  that  the  work  of  Christ  may  be  more 
fruitful  and  more  limitless  than  many  men  have 
taught,  and  that  His  Cross  may  be  as  everlast- 
ing and  victorious  in  its  efficacy  as  it  is  set 
forth  to  be  in  the  language  of  the  great  apostle 
whose  conversion  to-day  we  celebrate.  The 
sun  shines,  my  brethren,  and  we  see  the  things 
that  are  near  us, — all  the  little  things  that  flit 
in  the  air,  or  creep  beside  our  feet.  The  sun 
sets,  and  then  first  we  see  the  unnumbered  stars 
of  heaven,  repaying  to  the  sun  its  sunlight,  or 
burning  with  independent  glory  through  all 
the  unfathomable  space.  May  it  not  be  so 
with  life  and  death  ?  Life  sets ;  its  insect 
greatnesses  cease  to  buzz  about  us;  its  insect 
littlenesses  cease  to  sting.  We  lose  sight  even 
of  this  vault  of  light  and  blue  which  is  above 
our  heads ;  but  lo  !  from  under  the  shadow  of 
death  the  heavens  above  us  seem  to  burst  open 


256 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  vii. 


to  their  depths,  and  we  see  not  one  sun,  but 
systems,  and  constellations,  and  galaxies,  white 
with  the  confluent  lustre  of  suns  numberless 
in  multitude  and  indistinguishable  from  their 
distance.  May  not  death  first  reveal  to  us,  as 
night  first  reveals  to  us,  the  undreamt  of  glories, 
the  possibilities  hitherto  inconceivable,  which 
crowd  the  universe  of  God  ?  And  through 
all  that  universe  our  Father  reigns, — God,  who 
was  in  Christ  reconciling  the  world  unto  Him- 
self "Whither,"  says  the  Psalmist,  "shall 
I  go  then  from  Thy  spirit ;  or  whither  shall 
I  go  then  from  Thy  presence  ?  If  I  climb 
up  into  heaven,  Thou  art  there.  If  I  go 
down  into  hell,  Thou  art  there  also.  If  I 
take  the  wings  of  the  morning  and  fly  into 
the  uttermost  parts  of  the  sea,  even  there 
also  Thy  hand  shall  lead  me,  and  Thy  right 
hand  shall  hold  me."  Yes,  my  brethren,  God 
is  everywhere ;  and  the  footsteps  of  Him  who 
sighed  for  the  miseries  of  man  have  illuminated 
even  that  unknown  land  which  every  man  must 
enter.    Which  of  us  then  would  not  breathe 


SERM.  vii.]        LAST  LESSONS. 


2S7 


that  bold  and  trustful  prayer  of  the  ancient 
Rabbi,  as  he  entered  the  Holy  of  Holies  to 
bum  incense  and  thought  that  he  saw  before 
him  Acathriel,  the  Crown  of  Glory,  the  vision 
of  the  Most  High — "  May  it  please  Thee  to  let 
Thy  compassion  subdue  Thine  anger.  May  it 
be  revealed  above  Thine  other  attributes,  and 
mayest  Thou  deal  with  Thy  children  accord- 
ing to  Thy  mercy,  and  not  according  to  the 
strict  measure  of  Thy  justice  "  ? '  And  offering 
that  prayer,  which  of  us  will  not  believe,  that 
to  us,  as  to  the  Rabbi  in  the  Vision,  the  Lord 
will  bow  His  head  to  us,  as  though  pleased 
therewith  ?  I  for  one  believe  that  with  such  a 
prayer,  "that  it  would  please  Him  to  have 
mercy  upon  all  men,"  He  is  not  displeased ; — 
and  that  is  why 

"  I  walk  with  bare  hushed  feet  the  ground 
Ye  tread  with  boldness  shod  ; 
I  dare  not  fix  with  mete  and  bound 
The  love  and  power  of  God. 


'  Berachoth,  f.  7,  i. 


S 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm,  vii. 


"  I  know  not  where  His  L  lands  lift 
Their  fronded  palms  in  air  ; 
I  only  know  I  cannot  drift 
Beyond  His  love  and  care. 

"  And  Thou,  O  Lord,  by  whom  are  sten 
All  creatures  as  they  be, 
Forgive  me  if  too  close  I  lean 
My  human  heart  on  Thee." 


SERMON  VIII. 
LEGISLATIVE  DUTIES. 


S  2 


SERMON  VIII 

LEGISLATIVE  DUTIES.^ 
I  Tim.  ii.  i,  2. 

"  /  exhort  therefore,  that,  first  of  all,  supplications,  prayers, 
intercessions,  and  giving  of  thanks,  be  tnade  for  all  men  ;  for 
kings,  and  for  all  thai  are  in  authority  ;  that  we  may  lead  a 
quiet  and  peaceable  life  in  all  godliness  and  honesty." 

You  have  just  heard,  my  brethren,  that  ancient 
bidding  prayer,  which  reminds  us  that  the  Par- 
liament of  England  has  been,  once  more,  sum- 
moned to  meet  for  a  special  session.  It  reminds 
us  also  that,  by  a  privilege  300  years  old,  this 
Church  is  known  as  the  Church  of  the  House 
of  Commons.'  Here,  in  former  days,  the  members 

'  A  Sermon  preached  at  St.  Margaret's,  Westminster,  at  the 
opening  of  Parliament,  1879. 

'  In  1734  Parliament  granted  3,500/.  to  the  Church  because 
it  was  "as  it  were  a  National  Church  for  the  use  of  the  House 
of  Commons." 


262 


EPHPHATHA.         [serm.  viii. 


of  the  House  met,  year  after  year,  on  Ash 
Wednesday,'  to  hear  the  exhortations  of  the 
greatest  divines  of  the  English  Church.  This 
parish  of  St.  Margaret's  was  then  the  parish  of 
the  rich ;  the  church  was  the  church  of  royalty,' 
and  every  Sunday  the  Members  of  Parliament 
worshipped  here  in  hundreds.  All  these  condi- 
tions are  changed.  Streets  are  now  abandoned, 
which  were  then  full  of  wealthy  and  noble  resi- 
dents, and  the  parish  is  almost  exclusively  a 
parish  of  the  poor.  But  the  church  has  its  me- 
mories. We  are  met  within  the  same  walls  which 
were  thronged  by  the  Commons  of  England  dur- 
ing the  stormiest  epochs  of  their  career.'  Pym, 

'  Volumes  of  these  "  Fast  Day  Sermons "  are  still  extant,  as 
Mr.  Carlyle  says,  in  rows  of  "dumpy  quartos."  Among  those 
who  thus  preached  before  the  House  of  Commons  at  St.  Mar- 
garet's are  Latimer,  Usher,  Tenison,  Tillotson,  Gauden,  Sher- 
lock, Stillingfleet,  Porteus,  Baxter,  Spratt,  Burnet,  Atterbury, 
Home,  Dr.  Young,  &c. 

'  The  royal  pews  are  seen  in  old  pictures  of  the  church. 
In  St.  Margaret's  Church,  on  September  25th,  1642,  both 
Houses  of  Parliament  swore  to  the  Solemn  League  and  Cove- 
nant with  the  Assembly  of  Divines  and  the  Scottish  Commis- 
sioners.    On  May  31,  1642,  the  news  of  Waller's  plot  was 


SERM.  VIII  ]  LEGISLATIVE  DUTIES. 


263 


and  Hampden,  and  Vane,  and  Eliot,  and  Marvell, 
and  Harrington  have  licre  knelt  in  prayer  no  less 
than  Strafford,  and  Falkland,  and  Prince  Ru- 
pert;' and  the  altar  and  the  font  are  associated 
with  the  memories  alike  of  Milton,  the  secretary 
of  Cromwell,  and  Clarendon,  the  historian  of 
Charles,  and  Sir  William  Waller,  the  Parlia- 
mentary general.''  But  apart  from  all  these 
constitutional  associations,  the  mere  fact  that 

whispered  to  Pym  as  he  was  worshipping  in  this  church  on  a 
fast  day. 

'  The  following  are  one  or  two  of  the  remarkable  entries  in 
the  Churchwardens' Accounts  of  the  17th  century: — 

1627.  Paid  for  bread  and  wine,  when  the  Rt  Hon.  the 
Commons  House  of  Parliament,  being  468  persons,  received  the 
Communion  in  the  Parish  Church,  1626,  5/.  7^. 

1628.  Paid  to  the  ringers,  when  His  Majesty  granted  the 
Petition  of  Right,  5^. 

1648.  Laid  out  in  expenses,  when  we  by  order  sent  forth 
scouts  to  bring  intelligence  of  the  armies'  approach  toward 
the  Citie,  I2^.  dd. 

1677.  To  the  ringers,  on  the  day  when  the  Prince  of  Orange 
was  contracted  to  the  Lady  Mary,  \os. 

*  The  following  are  a  few  out  of  many  interesting  entries  in 
the  Parish  Register  : — 

1627.  Henry  Hide,  now  Earle  of  Clarendon,  son  to  Edward, 
Lord  Chancellor  and  ICarle  of  Clarendon,  baptised. 


264 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  viii. 


Parliament  has  again  assembled  might  well 
furnish  the  subject  for  our  morning  exhorta- 
tion ;  and  since  we  cannot  but  feel  in  that  event 
a  special  interest,  I  purpose  this  morning  to 
break  for  one  Sunday  the  course  which  I  had 
begun,  and  to  ask  you  to  dwell  with  me  for 
a  few  moments  on  the  thoughts  which  a  new 
Session  of  Parliament  suggests.  I  need  not  say 
that  they  will  be  religious  thoughts.  The  func- 
tions of  a  pastor  are  not  the  same  as  those  of 
a  citizen,  and  the  occasions  are  rare  (and  this  is 
not  one  of  them)  in  which  it  could  be  the  duty 

1631,  July  5.    [Married.]    Edmund  Waller  to  Ann  Backer. 

1656.  [Banns.]  John  Milton,  of  this  parish,  Esq.,  and 
Mrs.  Katherin  Woodcock,  of  the  parish  of  Aldermanbury, 
spinster.    Published  October  22,  27,  November  3. 

1657,  October  19.  [Baptism.]  Katherin  Milton,  D.  to  John, 
Esq.,  by  Katherin.  (Underneath  this  entry  some  one  has 
written,  "  This  is  Milton,  Oliver's  secretary.") 

1657,  February  10.  [Burials.]  Mrs.  Katherin  Milton. 
(This  is  Milton's  second  wife,  to  whom  he  addresses  the 
23rd  Sonnet.) 

1657,  March  20.  Mrs.  Katherin  Milton.  (This  is  Milton's 
infant  child.) 

1668,  October  6.    Sir  WiUiam  Waller,  Knt. 

1693,  March  14th.  Thomas,  son  to  Gilbert  Burnett,  LonI 
Bishop  of  Sanim,  baptised. 


SERM.  VIII.]  LEGISLATIVE  DUTIES.  265 


of  the  preacher  to  deal  polemically  with  those 
burning  questions  which  awaken  the  animosi- 
t'cs  of  party  strife.  No  !  it  is  his  duty,  and  a 
blessed  one  it  is,  to  deal  with  those  inde- 
structible principles  which  are,  to  the  transient 
questions  of  political  division,  as  is  the  ocean 
to  its  wreaths  of  foam  ;  with  those  truths 
which  tower  above  all  passing  questions,  and 
lie  behind  them,  wide  as  eternity  and  deep  as 
life.  It  is  his  duty  to  enforce  the  deep  moral 
obligations  of  Christian  citizenship,  not  to  thrust 
himself  needlessly  into  the  arena  of  its  evanes- 
cent strifes.  It  is  his  duty  to  plead  for  mutual 
appreciation  ;  to  soften  bitternesses  ;  to  dwell  on 
points  of  agreement ;  to  urge  that  generosity  is 
nobler  than  violence,  that  courtesy  is  more 
honourable  than  invective  ;  to  bear  witness— even 
to  statesmen  in  the  heat  of  controversy — that 

"  One  sm^ll  touch  of  charity 

Would  raise  them  nearer  godlike  stale, 
Than  if  the  crowded  orb  should  cry 
As  those  who  cried  'Diana  great.'" 

Times  indeed  there  have  been,  and  may  be 
again,  when  at  all  costs  the  Christian  preacher 


266 


EPHPHATHA.         [serm.  viii. 


must  cry  aloud  and  spare  not ;  times,  like  those 
described  in  the  first  lesson  of  the  service, 
when  the  laws  of  God  have  been  imperilled  ; 
when  the  principles  of  justice  have  been 
traversed  ;  when  the  rights  of  the  many  have 
been  crushed  under  the  encroachments  of  the 
few  ;  when  wealth  and  power  have  tyrannously 
pressed  their  privileges,  and  forgotten  utterly 
their  duties  ;  when  men  have  called  evil  good,  and 
good  evil  ;  put  bitter  for  sweet,  and  sweet  for 
bitter.  At  such  times  the  Christian  preacher 
should,  like  the  ancient  prophets,  speak  out,  even 
before  kings,  and  not  be  ashamed.  But  my 
duties  to-day  are  wholly  different.  I  wish  to 
make  our  bidding  prayer,  which  we  use  every 
Sunday  during  the  session  of  Parliament,  real 
to  you  ;  I  wish  to  impress  on  you  the  grandeur 
and  solemnity  of  the  functions  of  our  legis- 
lature, and  to  urge  upon  you  the  duty  of  not 
forgetting  as  you  kneel  at  the  throne  of  grace 
those  on  whom  rest  such  grave  responsibilities. 

2.  "  I  exhort,"  says  St.  Paul,  "  that  supplica- 
tions, prayers,  intercessions,  and  giving  of  thanks 


SERM.  vni.]  LEGISLATIVE  DUTIES. 


267 


be  made  for  all  men."  It  is  a  grand  and  elevat- 
ing duty.  "  But  thou,"  says  the  dying  king  in 
the  Idylls  — 

"  If  thou  shouldst  never  see  my  face  again, 

Pray  for  my  soul  ;  more  things  are  wrought  by  prayer 

Than  this  world  dreams  of.    Therefore  let  thy  voice 

Rise  like  a  fountain  for  me,  night  and  day. 

For  what  are  men  better  than  sheep  or  goats. 

That  nourish  a  blind  life  within  the  brain, 

If,  knowing  God,  they  lift  not  holy  hands, 

Both  for  themselves  and  those  who  call  them  friend  ? 

For  so  the  whole  round  world  is  every  way 

Bound  by  gold  chains  about  the  feet  of  God." 

But  the  Apostle  proceeds  especially  to  urge 
prayers  "  for  kings  and  all  in  authority,  that 
we  may  lead  a  quiet  and  peaceable  life  in 
godliness  and  honesty."  Nor  have  Christians 
ever  overlooked  this  injunction.  In  the  very 
earliest  liturgies  we  find  prayers  for  rulers. 
"  With  outspread  hands,"  says  TertuUian,  "we 
pray  for  all  sovereigns  a  long  life,  a  secure 
dominion,  a  safe  home,  brave  armies,  a  faithful 
senate,  an  upright  people,  a  quiet  world." '  Now 
in  England  the  strongest  power  is  that  of  the 


'  See  Tert.  Apo/  c.  30,  32  ;  Ad.  Scap.  2. 


268 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  viii. 


Parliament.  It  results  from  the  entire  growth 
of  our  constitution,  that  the  authority  of  Parlia- 
ment, which  is  ultimately  the  will  of  the  people, 
is  irresistible  and  supreme.  Even  the  Planta- 
genets  felt  that  force,  and  it  wrung  from  them 
the  strongest  charters  of  our  liberty.  Even 
the  Tudors  felt  it,  and  it  curbed  their  lion  will. 
In  vain  did  the  Stuarts  fight  against  it.  When 
James  I.,  on  receiving  a  deputation  from  the 
House,  ordered  so  many  gilded  chairs  to  be 
set,  "for,"  he  said,  "there  are  so  many  kings 
a-coming,"  he  did  but  utter  an  unconscious 
prophecy  of  a  force  which  was  to  cost  his  son 
a  life,  and  his  family  a  throne.  And  since  then 
the  Parliament  of  England  has  been  the  main- 
stay of  England's  liberties;  its  will  has  been 
the  motive  force,  its  laws  the  sheet-anchor  of  the 
state.  Thank  God  we  all  love  and  honour  the 
Crown  of  England  with  a  most  loyal  affection, 
and  we  rejoice  that  there  is  a  House  of  Lords, 
lifted  above  the  perils  of  immediate  unpopu- 
larity, representing  the  most  established  rights 
and  recruited  yearly  by  the  noblest  intellects  ; 


SERM.  VIII.]  LEGISLATIVE  DUTIES. 


269 


and  yet,  again  and  again,  the  towering  fasces  of 
the  sovereign,  and  of  the  aristocracy  have  been 
loyally  and  fitly  lowered  before  the  majesty  of 
a  people's  will.  And  if  this  be  the  grandeur 
of  a  senator's  position,  it  is  the  privilege  of 
ours.  The  members  of  the  House  of  Commons 
are  not  our  tyrants,  but  our  representatives  ; 
not  our  masters,  but  the  agents  of  our  will.  We 
are  a  people,  and  it  is  through  them  that  we 
speak  in  a  people's  voice.  For  these  blessings 
of  freedom  and  self-government  we  ought  to 
thank  God.  Citizens,  by  this  gift,  of  no  mean 
commonwealth,  we  ought  not,  amid  the  dwarf- 
ing selfishness  of  individualism,  to  forget  that,  in 
the  formation  of  that  enlightened  public  opinion 
by  which  the  issues  of  legislation  are  decided, 
it  is  our  duty  to  take  a  part  which,  however 
humble,  ought  to  be  both  thoughtful  and  sincere. 
And  the  slow,  just,  legal  growth  of  this  glorious 
prerogative  is  the  great  characteristic  of  English 
history.  Even  our  civil  wars,  stained  as  they 
were  with  a  king's  blood,  had  none  of  those 
lurid  scenes  of  riot,  those  hideous  excesses  of 


EPHPHATHA.         [serm.  vm. 


revolution,  which  have  reddened  page  after  page 
of  the  annals  of  France,  and  caused  her  fortunes 
to  oscillate  with  such  terrible  violence  between 
the  extremes  of  anarchy  and  despotism.  There 
is  not  an  Englishman  among  us  all  who  ought 
not  to  feel  and  to  rejoice  that  he  is  a  son  of  ' 

"  The  land  which  freemen  till, 

Which  sober-suited  Freedom  chose, 
A  land,  where,  girt  with  friends  or  foes, 
A  man  may  speak  the  thing  he  will ; 

"  A  land  of  settled  government, 

A  land  of  free  and  old  renown, 
Where  freedom  slowly  broadens  down 
From  precedent  to  precedent." 

We  then — more  perhaps  than  any  nation  under 
the  sun — owe  this  debt  of  "  thanksgiving  "  to 
God,  of  which  the  Apostle  reminds  us,  "  for 
kings,  and  all  who  are  in  authority." 

3.  And  if  we  have  such  large  reason  to  offer 
those  thanksgivings,  may  not  this  be  due,  in  no 
small  degree,  to  the  "  prayers  and  supplications  " 
which  St.  Paul  tells  us  that  we  ought  also  to 
offer  ?  All  that  there  is  among  us  of  peace,  of 
progress,  of  prosperity  is  due  to  the  collective 


SERM.  VIII.]  LEGISLATIIE  DUTIES.  2Jl 


wisdom  of  the  nation,  as  guided  by  the  voice  of 
her  Parh'ament  ;  and  if  that  wisdom  have  pro- 
duced rich  results,  must  we  not  believe  that  God 
has  heard  the  prayers  of  His  people  ?  If  "  every 
good  gift,  and  every  perfect  gift,"  to  nations  as 
well  as  to  individuals,  is  from  above,  must  it  not 
be  due  to  His  goodness  that  so  many  statesmen 
have  been  raised  up  among  us  whose  great 
example  is  the  heritage  of  the  world  ?  Ought 
we  not  to  thank  God  for  these  great  men, — for 
their  learning,  for  their  dignity,  for  their  elo- 
quence, for  their  inflexible  determination,  to  the 
utmost  of  their  power,  to  be  just  and  fear  not  ? 
I  will  not  go  too  far  back.  I  will  not  evoke 
from  their  marble  silence  the  stately  figures  of 
the  great  Royalists  and  the  great  Puritans  ;  but 
even  in  the  last  generations  ought  we  not  to 
thank  God  for  having  raised  up  such  men  among 
us  as  Chatham  and  Mansfield,  as  Burke  and 
Fox,  as  Pitt  and  Wilberforce,  as  Peel  and 
Canning,  as  Wellington  and  Russell They 
erred,  doubtless,  each  and  all  of  them,  as  we 
all  err,  but  for  the  most  part  they  erred  only 


272 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  viii. 


with  honour,  and  from  human  limitations;  and 
the  shadow  of  their  mistakes  has  been  lost  in 
the  splendour  of  their  services.  And  what 
treasuries  have  they  left  us  of  immortal  truths, 
clothed  in  immortal  language  !  what  echoes  of 
their  mighty  voices  come  rolling  to  us  through 
the  years !  "  I  will  do  my  duty  unawed. 
What  am  I  to  fear  ?  That  mendax  infaviia 
from  the  press  which  daily  coins  false  facts 
and  false  motives  ?  The  lies  of  calumny  carry 
no  terror  for  me.  I  trust  that  the  temper  of  my 
mind,  and  the  colour  and  conduct  of  my  life 
have  given  me  a  suit  of  armour  against  these 
arrows." — "  I  wish  popularity,  but  it  is  that 
popularity  which  follows,  not  which  is  run  after. 
It  is  that  popularity  which  never  fails,  sooner  or 
later,  to  do  justice  to  the  pursuit  of  noble  ends 
by  noble  means.  I  will  not  do  that  which  my 
conscience  tells  me  is  wrong  to  gain  the  ap- 
plause of  thousands,  or  the  daily  praise  of  all 
the  papers  that  come  from  the  press.  I  will 
not  avoid  doing  that  which  my  conscience  tells 
me  is  right,  though  it  should  draw  on  me  the 


SERM.  viii.J  LEGISLATIVE  DUTIES.  273 


whole  artillery  of  libels,  all  that  falsehood  and 
malice  can  invent,  or  the  credulity  of  a  deluded 
populace  can  swallow." '  What  good  man 
may  not  be  cheered  to  pursue  the  fearless  path 
of  duty  by  those  strong  words  of  the  great  Lord 
Mansfield  ?  What  Englishman  does  not  feel 
how  national  error  should  be  repudiated  when 
he  hears  the  glorious  cataract  of  eloquence  in 
which  Chatham  called  on  the  House  of  Lords 
to  examine,  thoroughly  and  decisively,  an  in- 
human measure,  and  "  to  stamp  upon  it  an 
indelible  stigma  of  the  public  abhorrence  ?  "  ' 
Who  is  not  inspirited  in  the  cause  of  humanity 
as  he  reads  the  glowing  and  immortal  eulogy 
pronounced  by  Edmund  Burke  upon  John 
Howard,  the  angel  of  the  prisons  ?  Who  is 
not  encouraged  to  hope,  even  against  hope,  in 
the  struggle  against  mighty  interests  enlisted 
with  national  custom  in  the  cause  of  ruin,  when 

'  Speech  of  Lord  Mansfield,  wlien  surrounded  by  a  mob  in  the 
Court  of  the  Kirg's  BencJi,  on  a  trial  respecting  the  outlawry  of 
John  Wilkes,  June  8,  1768.  »  November  18,  1777. 

T 


274 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  viii. 


he  sees  how  for  twenty  years,  through  good 
report  and  evil  report,  William  Wilberforce 
fought  the  battle  of  the  slave  ?  Who  may 
not  gain  from  contemplating  the  indomitable 
courage  of  Castlereagh  and  the  stainless  in- 
tegrity of  Pitt  ?  Who  does  not  recognise 
the  wisdom  and  the  nobleness  of  acknowledg- 
ing an  intellectual  error  when  he  reads  how, 
for  the  good  of  his  country,  Peel  changed 
his  mind  ?  In  whose  eyes  does  not  a  life 
of  duty  in  the  public  service — sometimes  it 
may  be  wanting  in  insight,  but  never  lacking 
in  inflexible  faithfulness — become  more  noble 
when  he  thinks  of  Wellington  as  we  used  to 
see  him,  "like  some  silver-headed  eagle  of  the 
gods,  grown  grey  in  service "  ?  Who  is  not 
strengthened  to  believe  in  the  cause  of  progress 
and  liberty  as  he  lingers  over  the  long  and 
brave  career  of  John,  Earl  Russell  ?  Ennobled 
by  the  large  aims  and  generous  services  of  these 
great  men,  and  such  as  these,  amid  our  general 
prayers  and  more  special  supplications,  ought 


SERM.  VIII.]  LEGISLATIVE  DUTIES.  275 


we  not  also  to  thank  God  for  England, 
that 

"  Statesmen  in  her  councils  met, 
Who  knew  the  season  when  to  take 
Occasion  by  the  hand,  and  make 

The  bounds  of  freedom  broader  yet. 

By  shaping  some  auj^ust  decree, 

Which  kept  her  throne  unshaken  still. 
Firm  based  upon  her  people's  will, 

And  compassed  by  the  inviolate  sea"? 

4.  And  let  none  of  us,  my  brethren,  be  so 
vulgarly  absorbed  by  our  shops  and  our  families, 
by  our  private  interests  and  selfish  domesti- 
cities, as  to  think  that  Parliaments  and  laws 
make  small  difference  to  him.  Their  functions 
are  so  far-reaching  that  there  is  not  a  home  or 
hearth  in  England  v/hich  is  not  happier  or  more 
dismal  from  their  influence.  Not  only  does  the 
safety  of  nations,  the  peace  of  churches,  the 
prosperity  of  commerce  depend  on  them,  but 
even  no  little  of  the  security,  the  order,  the 
happiness  of  our  individual  lives.  With  them 
rests  the  continuance  of  the  loyal  affection 
of  our  colonies,  over  realms  on  which  the  sun 


EPHPHATHA.         [serm.  viii. 


never  sets.  To  them  we  owe  it  that  the 
shores 

"'Of  Australasia,  lustrated  at  length, 
Collect  no  longer  the  putrescent  weed 
Of  Europe,  flung  by  senates  to  infect 
The  only  unpolluted  continent."  ' 

When  some  great  social  iniquity  has  entrenched 
itself  in  the  citadels  of  power  it  is  theirs  to 
drive  the  battering-ram  against  its  walls.  If 
men,  in  greed  or  ignorance,  have  infected  the 
sweet  rivers  of  England  with  filthy  stains — 
if  they  have  neglected  the  laws  of  nature  by 
perpetuating  the  conditions  of  disease — if  they 
have  made  cities  unhealthy  by  poisoning  the 
air  with  sulphurous  chemicals  and  the  soil  with 
the  relics  of  the  dead — if  individual  selfishness 
has  ever  tried  to  encroach,  in  a  thousand  direc- 
tions, on  universal  rights  ;— if  deadly  poisons 
are  sold  with  ruinous  facility ; — if  national  sins 
are  perpetuated   by  the  reckless   diffusion  of 

■  W.  S.  Lander's  lines  to  Mrs.  Chisholm.  The  Abolition  of 
Transportation  was  proposed  by  Archbishop  Whately  and  Sir 
\V.  Molesworth  in  1S46,  and  by  Lord  Cranworth  in  1853.  It 
was  finally  carried  out  in  1857  under  Sir  G.  Grey's  Act. 


SERM.  VIII.]  LEGISLATIVE  DUTIES.  277 


tsrrible  temptations  ;  —  if  scoundrels  would 
deprave  with  pestilent  literature  the  morals  of 
our  sons  ; — if  landlords  will  crowd  the  poor  into 
tenements  scarce  fit  for  swine;  —  if  banded 
unions  have  striven  to  persecute  opinion  and 
make  thought  a  crime— then  theirs  is  the  god- 
like function  to  secure  dwellings  for  the  honest ; 
to  shield  the  innocence  of  the  young ;  to  di- 
minish the  perils  of  the  tempted  ;  to  repress 
the  violences  of  the  criminal ;  to  protect  the 
independence  of  the  thinker ;  to  prevent  the 
recklessness  of  the  avaricious  ;  to  see  that  none 
grow  rich  on  profits  drawn  from  the  nation's 
ruin  ;  to  restore  its  crystal  to  the  river,  and 
its  sweetness  to  the  air  ; — by  fearless  repression 
of  wrong,  by  wide  encouragement  of  right,  by 
high  moral  influence,  by  strong  sanitary  legis- 
lation, it  is  theirs  to  secure  the  righteousness 
of  our  land,  and  the  health  of  our  people.  The 
sundial  of  Lincoln's  Inn  says,  "Lex  anchora 
Regni" — Law,  the  anchor  of  the  realm  ;  and 
since  the  majestic  principle  of  that  Divine 
Law,  "whose  home   is   the    bosom    of  God 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  viii. 


and  her  voice  the  harmony  of  the  world,"  can 
only  be  ensured  by  human  laws,  it  is  the 
function  of  Parliaments,  in  the  words  of  a 
recent  statesman,  to  be  able  to  claim  that  'they 
found  law  dear  and  left  it  cheap  ;  they  found 
it  a  sealed  book,  they  left  it  an  open  letter; 
they  found  it  the  patrimony  of  the  rich,  they 
left  it  the  inheritance  of  tHe  poor ;  they  found 
it  the  two-edged  sword  of  craft  and  oppression, 
they  left  it  the  staff  of  honesty  and  the  shield 
of  innocence.''  Only  the  future  will  be  able 
duly  to  estimate  the  full  beneficence  of  the 
home  legislation  of  the  last  fifty  years.  Take 
but  the  abolition  of  the  Test  Acts,  with  their 
tyrannies  and  hypocrisies,  in  1828.  Take  the 
abolition  of  slavery  in  1830.  Take  the  Reci- 
procity of  duties,  which  so  vastly  increased 
our  shipping  in  1829.  Take  the  Reform  Bill, 
which  saved  the  verj'  bases  of  our  constitution 
in  1832.  Take  the  abolition  of  the  Corn  Laws, 
with  the  vast  relief  which  it  gave  to  a  teeming 

•  See  speech  of  Lord  Brougham  in  the  House  of  Commons 
on  Law  Reform,  Feb.  7,  1828. 


SERM.  VIII.]  LEGISLATIVE  DUTIES.  279 


population,  in  1846.  Take  the  Bill  for  the  pro- 
tection of  women  and  children  in  mines  and  col- 
leries  in  1842.'  Take  the  shortening  of  the  weary 
hours  of  factory  labour  in  1847.  Take  the  large 
measure  for  the  purification  of  the  Thames  in 
1858.  Take  the  establishment  of  a  national 
system  of  education  in  1870.  Take  the  Acts  for 
the  protection  of  life  and  property  in  mines,  and 
railroads,  and  ships,  and  banks,  and  companies. 
Take  the  defence  of  even  dumb  animals  from 
reckless  cruelty,  and  the  preservation  of  the 
harmless  birds  of  land  and  wave.  There 
is  not  one  man  of  us  all  in  England  who  has 
not  gained  by  the  blessings  which  flow  from 
measures  such  as  these ;  and  it  is  due  in 
no  small  degree  to  them  that  population  is 
nearly  doubled  ;  wealth  vastly  increased  ;  crime 
diminished ;  longevity  extended ;  our  Empire 
vaster;  our  people  stronger;  classes  more 
united  ;  Englishmen  better  governed,  better 
taught,   better   housed,  better  protected,  and 

'  See  Molesworth's  Hislory  of  England  from  1830.  i.  323; 
ii.  109,  Sc. 


28o 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  viii. 


better  fed.  And  how  is  it,  that — often  in  the 
very  teeth  of  the  most  determined  and  un- 
scrupulous opposition, — these  triumphs  have 
been  won  ?  Chiefly  because  God  has  given  us 
statesmen  with  the  insight  to  perceive  their 
blessedness,  and  the  courage  to  enforce  their 
necessity,  and  Parliaments  with  whom  reason 
has  been  stronger  than  prejudice,  and  opponents 
ready  to  acquiesce  with  loyalty  even  in  those 
measures  which  have  subordinated  private  in- 
terests to  the  public  good.  When  they  have 
passed  peacefully  into  law,  victorious  over  pas- 
sionate antagonism,  men  have  felt  gladly  that 
a  great  strain  was  removed.  Some  here  are 
old  enough  to  remember  the  passing  of  the 
Great  Reform  Bill  in  1832.  Passions  were  then 
so  intensely  excited,  that,  in  another  country,  a 
throne  might  well  have  toppled  over  into  the 
dust ;  and  even  in  our  own  country  it  seemed  at 
one  time  as  if  Revolution  sat  '  nursing  the  im- 
patient earthquake.'  And  yet,  by  God's  bless- 
ing, all  was  done  by  legal  and  constitutional 
processes.  A  great  man  who  was  present  at  one 


SERM.  VIII.]  LEGISLA  TIVE  D  UTIES.         2 8 1 


of  the  final  divisions  has  told  us  that  it  was  a 
scene  never  to  be  forgotten, — like  seeing  Cc-esar 
stabbed  in  the  senate-house,  or  Cromwell 
ordering  the  removal  of  the  mace.  From  the 
608  members  present,  the  Ayes  and  Noes  came 
like  volleys  of  artillery  ;  with  breathless  silence 
the  votes  were  counted  ;  suppressed  cries  began 
to  break  out  towards  the  close,  and  when  it  was 
known  that  there  was  a  narrow  majority  of  eight 
in  favour  of  the  bill,  strong  men  burst  into 
weeping  and  laughter,  and  the  stillness  of  the 
night  was  broken  by  storms  of  loud  huzzahs, 
which  swept  far  along  the  dark  excited 
streets.' 

5.  I  have  tried,  then,  to  show  you  why,  as 
English  citizens,  it  is  a  plain  duty  for  us,  as  we 
do,  to  pray  for  the  Parliament  which  thus  power- 
fully sways  our  social  legislation.  You  will  be 
well  aware  that  issues  even  vaster — issues 
affecting  other  nations  no  less  than  our  own, 
hang  upon  our  foreign  policy.    I  am  not  one 

'  See  a  letter  in  Mr.  Trevelyan's  Life  of  Lord  I\/ac.u<lay,  i. 
205.    See,  too,  Miss  Martineau's  History,  ii.  58—71. 


282 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  viu 


of  those  who  hold  that  war  is  of  necessity  a 
crime.  In  a  corrupt  and  guilty  world  it  may 
be  as  necessary  as  the  storm  is  necessary  to 
cleanse  the  pestilence  from  the  stagnant  air  ;  and 
I  doubt  whether  even  the  Apostle  of  Love  him- 
self would  have  denied  that  there  are  crises  at 
which  we  are  forced  to  use  even  the  tremendous 
words  of  the  most  Christian  and  gentle-hearted 
of  poets,  that 

"  God's  most  perfect  instrument 
For  carrying  out  a  pure  intent. 
Is  men  arrayed  for  mutual  slaughter, 
Yea,  carnage  is  His  daughter." 

But  though  there  are  such  awful  crises,  I  am 
sure  that  every  one  of  us  as  Christians  feels 
how  grave  is  the  responsibility  of  deciding, 
ivheti  it  is  expedient,  when  it  is  necessary, — yea, 
lawful,  yea,  right, — to  stretch  forth  our  hands 
for  that  sword  of  justice,  which  is  of  celestial 
temper,  and  forged  in  the  armoury  of  God. 
For  the  disinterestedness  of  our  justice,  do  we 
not  all  know  how  strict  and  solemn  an  account 
statesmen   as  statesmen,  and  we  as  citizens, 


SERM.  VIII.]  LEGISLATIVE  DUTIES.  283 


must  one  day  give  at  the  judgment-seat  of 
God?  Do  we  not  feel  that  to  all  who  in  the 
awful  impartial  eyes  of  God  fight  without  this 
solemn  sense  of  responsibility  a  voice  falls 
from  heaven,  "Put  up  again  thy  sword  into 
his  place,  for  all  they  that  take  the  sword 
shall  perish  with  the  sword  "  ?  My  brethren, 
it  is  not  of  course  in  any  way  my  wish,  either 
directly  or  indirectly,  to  express  an  irrespon- 
sible private  opinion  upon  a  burning  ques- 
tion ;  but  it  is  my  wish  that  we  should  all 
alike  be  reminded  of  the  duty  of  praying  for 
those  who,  as  in  God's  sight,  are  called  on 
to  decide  these  awful  issues.  They,  be  sure, 
even  when  they  deem  war  necessary,  feel  to 
the  full  as  keenly  as  we  can  do  that  war  is 
dreadful ;  they  with  all  of  us  look  back  to  that 
Christian  principle  of  arbitration  six  years  ago, 
when  we,  "an  old  and  haughty  nation  proud 
in  arms,"  bowed  nobly  to  a  decision  which 
Judged  us  to  be  wrong,  and  thereby  had  the 
inestimable  reward  of  having  changed  bitter 
differences  into  hearty  friendship.    And  all  of 


284 


EPHPHATHA.        [serm.  viii 


us  alike,  I  am  very  sure,  look  forward  to  the 
happier  day,  when,  in  a  just  and  faithful  world, 
the  war-drum  shall  throb  no  longer, 

"And  the  battle-flags  be  furled 
In  the  Parliament  of  man,  the  federation  of  the  world." 

6.  These  then,  my  brethren,  are  the  reasons 
why,  in  this  Church  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
we  pray  "  for  the  Great  Council  of  the  nation 
now  assembled  in  Parliament."  May  we  feel, 
as  often  as  we  hear  that  bidding  prayer,  how 
real  it  is.  May  we  recognise  that  undei  every 
form  of  human  government  the  Lord  God  is 
still  our  King.  May  our  senators  have  wisdom 
to  realise  the  grandeur  of  their  duties !  May 
they  hand  on,  unquenched,  that  torch  of  freedom 
which,  across  the  dust  and  darkness  of  many 
centuries,  has  been  handed  on  to  them.  May 
they  preserve  unimpaired  the  high  prestige  and 
dignity  and  honour  which  are  their  illustrious 
heritage.  May  they  refer  every  question  to 
the  Law  of  Righteousness,  as  read  by  the  light 
of  conscience, — never  giving  up  to  party  what 


SERM.  VIII.]  LEGISLATIVE  DUTIES.  285 


was  meant  for  mankind,  or  to  a  province  what 
is  the  heritage  of  a  kingdom,  or  to  a  section 
what  is  the  prerogative  of  a  race  ; — never  for- 
getting that  each  vote  of  theirs  will  tend,  in 
its  measure,  to  make  England  a  greater  and 
better,  or  a  weaker  and  poorer  land ;  always 
on  their  knees  asking  God  that  they  may  use 
the  power  intrusted  to  them,  not  for  private 
interests,  not  for  transient  ambitions,  not  for 
factious  triumphs,  but  always  with  sternest 
integrity,  and  in  His  faith  and  fear.  So  shall 
we  be  able  to  hold  our  own  against  every  force 
which  can  be  brought  against  us ;  so  shall  we 
realise  more  and  more  the  Psalmist's  golden 
picture  of  national  prosperity,  that  "  truth  shall 
flourish  out  of  the  earth,  and  righteousness  look 
down  from  heaven.  Yea,  the  Lord  shall  show 
lovingkindness,  and  our  land  shall  give  her 
increase.  Righteousness  shall  go  before  Him, 
and  He  shall  direct  her  going  in  the  way." 


SERMON  IX. 

THE  AIMS  OF  CHRISTIAN 
STATESMANSHIP. 


SERMON  IX. 


THE  AIMS  OF  CHRISTIAN  STATESMANSHIP.^ 

Deut.  xxvin.  I. 
"  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  if  thou  shall  hearken  diligently  to 
the  voice  of  the  Lord  thy  God  ....  that  the  Lord  thy  God 
wilt  set  thee  o?i  high  above  all  nations  of  the  earth." 

Those  who  worship  here  will,  I  think,  have 
recognized  my  desire  that,  amid  the  daily 
endeavour  to  work  out  our  own  salvation  with 
fear  and  trembling,  we  should  not  forget  our 
national  duties,  our  duties  as  human  beings  in 
the  great  family  of  man.  We  suffer  even  in 
our  spiritual  life  when  we  confine  our  thoughts 
to  the  narrow  horizon  of  our  individual  welfare. 
If  the  great  remedy  for  selfishness  be  to  lose 
ourselves   in   God,  if  the  great    example  of 

'  Preached  in  St.  Margaret's,  Westminster,  Feb.  8,  1880. 

U 


290 


EPHPHA  THA .  [s  erm.  ix. 


unselfishness  be  the  example  of  Christ,  if  the 
great  work  of  Christ  was  to  sacrifice  Himself 
for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world,  then  surely 
he  must  be  the  best  and  truest  man  whose 
hopes  and  fears  are  not  wholly  absorbed  into 
the  silence  and  seclusion  of  his  interior  life,  but 
who  yearns  for  the  religion  of  active  service, 
who  desires  to  follow  in  the  Divine  footsteps  of 
Him  who  "went  about  doing  good."  But  he 
who  would  live  thus,  while  he  strives  to  be 
a  child  of  God,  must  never  forget  that  he 
will  be  a  better  child  of  God  in  proportion  as 
the  whole  influence  of  his  life,  whether  in  a 
large  sphere  or  in  a  small,  tends  not  to  poison 
but  to  purify  the  current  of  the  world's  life.  If 
at  the  words,  "  I  am  a  man  ;  and  therefore  in 
all  things  human  I  have  a  concern,"  the  whole 
audience  of  a  heathen  theatre  could  rise  up 
to  shout  their  approval,  ought  not  a  Christian 
congregation  to  feel  that  those  lessons  are 
deeply  religious  which  turn  their  thoughts  to 
our  own  work  in  a  Christian  nation,  and  to  the 
work  of  a  Christian  nation  in  the  world  )    It  is 


SERM.  IX.]       STATESMANSHIP.  29 1 

.1  mistake  to  suppose  that  such  questions  are 
too  vast  and  vague.  Results  the  most  vast 
arc  brought  about  by  the  aggregate  of  small 
separate  exertions.  The  coral  insect  is  a  small 
and  ephemeral  creature  with  soft  and  feeble 
body,  yet  the  result  of  its  insignificant  exist- 
ence, the  contribution  of  its  tiny  grain,  rears 
the  leaguelong  reef  which  forms  a  barrier  in  the 
ocean,  or  builds  the  bases  of  continents  which 
form  for  untold  ages  the  home  of  man.  Let 
none  of  us  try  to  prove  that  we  have  but  little 
responsibility.  "  We  never  die  ;  we  are  the  waves 
of  the  ocean  of  life,  communicating  motion  to 
the  expanse  before  us,  and  leaving  the  history 
we  have  made  on  the  shore  behind." 

2.  And  if  any  congregation  may  ignore  the 
questions  which  affect  our  public  and  cor- 
porate usefulness,  we  cannot.  This  Church, 
as  I  have  said  before,  has  at  least  its  memo- 
ries. It  is  still,  in  name,  the  Church  of  the 
House  of  Commons.  Here  on  every  Ash 
Wednesday,  and  on  every  great  occasion  of 
national  joy  or  national   humiliation,  in  old 


292 


E  PHP  HATHA. 


[SERM.  I>. 


days  the  whole  House  of  Commons  used  to 
come  to  worship ;  and  here  they  have  been 
addressed  century  after  century  by  almost  all 
the  great  divines  of  the  Church  of  England 
from  Archbishop  Usher  down  to  the  close  of 
the  Crimean  War,  when  the  thanksgiving  ser- 
mon was  preached  by  Canon  Melville.'  And 
therefore  I  shall  venture  once  more  to-day  to 
speak  of  subjects  which  might  be  called  politi- 
cal. Two  days  ago  most  of  us  witnessed  the 
long  and  gorgeous  procession  in  which  this 
Parliament  was  opened  by  a  Queen  of  England, 
more  beloved  than  any  one  of  the  long  line  of 
her  royal  ancestors.  Who,  as  he  gazed  on  that 
scene,  could  fail  to  indulge  in  some  thoughts  of 
pride  and  gratitude  1  Such  pride  is  natural. 
The  slow  course  of  English  history,  rich  in 
great  deeds,  and  great  sacrifices,  has  made  us 
the  inheritors  of  blessings  which  if  they  are 
awful  in  responsibility  are  unexampled  in 
splendour.    Look  at  our  Empire.    In  its  extent. 


See  Note  on  p.  262. 


SEKM.  IX.]  STATESMANSHIP. 


293 


on  which  the  sun  never  sets,  in  the  consohdation 
which  bows  the  heart  of  its  peoples  Hke  the 
heart  of  one  man — not  the  colossal  Empires  of 
the  East,  not  the  wide  realms  of  Alexander 
or  of  the  Caesars  can  for  a  moment  compare 
with  it.  And  yet  the  vastness  of  our  Empire 
would  only  be  an  element  of  decay  and  weak- 
ness without  its  solidarity.  Were  it  an  Empire 
of  opposed  nationalities,  only  cramped  together 
by  an  iron  tyrarmy,  it  would  be  a  thing  to  blush 
for,  not  to  be  proud  of ;  but  thank  God  it  is  a 
loyal  Empire,  and  its  colonies  not  only  willingly 
but  gladly  kindle  the  lamps  of  their  Prytaneums 
from  the  sacred  fire  which  burns  on  the  altar  of 
their  old  home.  It  is  an  Empire  free  as  England 
is  free,  whose  soil  emancipates  the  slave  who 
treads  on  it  ;  and  contented  as  England  is  con- 
tented, where  there  are  no  deadly  antipathies 
between  the  ruled  and  the  ruling,  between  rich 
and  poor.  How  can  I  better  sum  up  points  on 
which  I  can  but  touch  than  in  the  words  of 
the  poet  i* — 


294 


EFHPHATHA.  [serm.  ix. 


"  A  people's  voice  !  we  are  a  people  yet, 
Tho'  all  men  else  their  nobler  dreams  forget. 
Confused  by  brainless  mobs  and  lawless  powers  ; 
Thank  Him  who  isled  us  here,  and  roughly  set 
His  Brito.i  in  blown  seas  and  storming  showers, 
We  have  a  voice  with  which  to  pay  the  debt 
Of  boundless  love,  and  reverence,  and  regret. 
To  those  great  men  who  fought  and  kept  it  ours. 
And  keep  it  ours,  O  God,  from  brute  control. 
O  statesmen,  guard  u^,  guard  the  eye,  the  soul 
Of  Europe,  keep  our  noble  England  whole, 
And  save  the  one  true  seed  of  freedom  sown 
Betwixt  a  people  and  their  ancient  throne  .  .  . 
For  saving  that  ye  help  to  save  mankind." 

I  shall  speak  to  you  then  this  morning  of 
matters  political ;  but  not,  I  need  scarcely  say, 
of  any  party  politics.  You  know  me  I  trust 
too  well  to  think  that  I  should  desecrate  this 
pulpit, — from  which  so  many  men  incomparably 
wiser  and  better  than  myself  have  spoken — for 
the  seizure  of  unfair  advantages  or  the  inflam- 
mation of  party  animosities.  I  shall  touch  only 
on  those  eternal  principles  of  which  it  is  well 
for  us  at  all  times  to  be  reminded,  but  on  which 
all  good  men  of  every  party  ought  to  be  unani- 
mous, however  much  they  may  be  led  to  differ 


SERM.  IX.]  STATESMANSHIP. 


295 


as  to  their  applications.  And  if  you  ask  me 
how  I  can  venture  to  speak  of  politics  in  the 
presence  of  statesmen  and  senators,  I  answer 
that  there  can  be  no  presumption  in  the  herald 
who  in  any  presence,  however  august,  does  but 
deliver  the  message  of  the  King  of  kings. 
"Thou,"  says  the  priest  in  one  of  our  dramas, 
to  the  British  Prince, — 

"  Thou  art  a  king,  a  sovereign  o'er  frail  men, 
I  am  a  Druid,  servant  of  the  gods  ; 
Sucli  service  is  above  such  sovereignty." 

"  Who  are  you  that  presume  to  school  the 
nobles  and  sovereign  of  this  realm  "  asked 
Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  of  John  Knox.  "  Madam," 
he  replied,  "  a  subject  born  within  the  same." 
It  would  be  fatal  to  England  if  such  principles  as 
I  shall  touch  upon  were  the  monoply  of  one 
or  of  the  other  party.  They  tower  far  above 
all  party  questions  ;  they  are  derived  from  the 
eternal  laws  of  God.  "  For  not  now  or  yester- 
day," as  the  ancient  poet  sings,  "  do  these  live, 
but  at  all  times  and  ever,  and  no  man  knows 


296 


EPUFHATHA.  [serm.  ix. 


since  when  they  sprang  to  light."'  These  are 
"  those  lofty  laws  which  had  their  birth  in  the 
expanse  of  heaven,  of  which  God  is  the  sole 
Father  ;  man  begat  them  not,  nor  shall  obli- 
vion lull  them  into  slumber." '  There  is  not 
one  true  or  righteous  earthly  law  which  does 
not  derive  its  origin  from  these,  even  as  the 
great  rivers  of  India  have  their  sources  amid 
the  Himalayan  snows. 

3.  There  are  two  great  regions  of  the  political 
action  of  every  state — Foreign  and  Domestic. 
By  what  principles  then  should  every  Christian 
desire  them  to  be  directed  }  In  dealing  with 
them  what  thoughts  should  every  good  man 
desire  to  be  for  ever  before  his  eyes 

Let  me  speak  first  of  what  should  be  the 
Foreign  Policy  of  England,  and  let  me  indulge 
for  a  moment  in  a  large  retrospect. 

You  heard  in  the  first  lesson  of  this  morning 
about  the  three  sons  of  Noah.    When  first  the 

*  oh  yap  Tt  vdv  76  Kax^fs,  aXA'  aei  xore 

toCto  KoiiSe'ts  oTSev      otou  '(pavr). — Soph.  Ant.  455. 
'  Soph.  CEJ.  Tyr.  865— 87 1. 


SERM.  IX.]  STATESMANSHIP. 


separate  races  of  mankind  begin  to  be  descernible 
in  the  confused  sea  of  humanity,  we  see  dark- 
skinned  and  savage  tribes  hving  for  the  most 
part  in  the  deepest  night  of  barbarism,  identified 
theoretically  with  the  race  of  Ham.  Out  of  this 
aeon  of  unprogressive  barbarism  emerge,  in 
course  of  time,  the  great  semi-civilised  nations 
of  Eastern  Asia  and  Northern  Africa,  the 
Chinese  and  the  Egyptians,  with  their  oppres- 
sive despotisms  and  cruel  superstitions.  Then 
in  the  third  great  aeon  of  human  records,  from 
2,000  to  3,000  years  before  the  birth  of  Christ, 
we  witness  the  first  definite  appearance  of  those 
two  mighty  races,  the  Semitic  and  the  Aryan, 
which  many  have  regarded  as  the  race  of  Shem 
and  the  race  of  Japhet.  Fairer  in  complexion, 
stronger,  more  physically  beautiful,  more  intel- 
lectually gifted,  they  appear  first  in  the  great 
table  lands  of  Central  Asia,  and  to  them  is  due 
almost  all  that  is  progressive  or  noble  in  the 
history  of  mankind.  To  the  Semitic  race,  and 
preeminently  to  the  Jew,  God  entrusted  the 
religious  education  of  the  ancient  world.  To 


298 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  ix. 


this  race  it  was  mainly  given  to  keep  alive  in 
the  world  a  belief  in  the  Unity  of  God,  and 
the  Eternal  Majesty  of  the  moral  law.  To  the 
Aryan  race,  to  which  we  belong,  was  entrusted 
mainly  the  civilisation  of  mankind  ;  from  it 
sprang  mainly  the  arts  of  war  and  peace  ;  the 
glory  that  was  Greece  belongs  to  it,  and  the 
grandeur  that  was  Rome  ;  it  has  been  the 
parent  of  the  lofty  spiritualism  of  India,  the 
deep  philosophy  of  Germany,  the  glorious  art 
of  Italy,  the  dauntless  energy  of  England.  But 
its  destiny  did  not  culminate  until  in  the 
crucifixion  of  our  Lord,  the  Semitic  race, 
knowing  not  the  day  of  its  visitation,  proved 
false  to  its  function  and  its  heritage.  Then 
the  torch  of  the  Christian  Revelation,  which 
would  have  been  extinguished  for  ever  in  the 
hands  of  the  Semite,  was  transferred  into  the 
hands  of  the  race  of  Japhet,  and  soon  burst 
into  a  lustre  which  was  intended  to  illuminate 
the  world.  Of  all  the  families  of  that  Aryan 
race  we,  the  English  of  to-day,  have  the  grand- 
est history  and  the  most  magnificent,  yet  also 


SERM.  IX.]       STATESMANSHIP.  299 


the  most  perilous  responsibilities.  We  have 
colonised  the  western  world.  We  are  undis- 
puted lords  of  the  great  southern  continent. 
Our  language  is  already  more  widely  dissemi- 
nated than  any  tongue  that  was  ever  spoken 
by  the  lips  of  man.  It  seems  likely  to  be- 
come the  almost  universal  language  of  the 
future.  Who  can  exaggerate  the  immensity 
of  such  an  influence  or  the  awfulness  of  such 
duties  t  They  affect  many  of  us  directly,  and 
in  many  ways.  Our  sons  and  daughters  go  to 
every  quarter  of  the  globe,  and  such  as  we  are 
they  are,  and  as  are  the  lessons  they  have  learnt 
in  their  English  homes  so  will  be  the  influence 
which  they  exercise  in  the  most  distant  colonies. 
But  a  vast  proportion  of  these  our  national  duties 
are  summed  up  in  the  words,  "  the  Foreign 
Policy  of  England."  What  then  should  be  the 
one  object  of  that  Foreign  Policy  Can  there 
be  in  the  light  of  Christianity  any  other  answer 
than  this  —  the  intellectual,  the  moral,  the 
spiritual  welfare  of  mankind  }  Ought  we  not 
to  teach  to  the  world  the  lessons  of  a  superior 


300 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  ix. 


wisdom,  a  purer  justice,  a  loftier  morality  ? 
Ought  we  not  to  inscribe  on  the  banner  of  our 
progress  that  sacred  name  which  it  is  at  once 
our  highest  mission  and  our  most  blessed 
privilege  to  render  visible  and  glorious  through 
a  regenerate  world  ?  I\Iuch  by  God's  blessing 
we  have  done  ;  and  we  may  say  of  our  native 
country, 

"  Yea  !  she  hath  mighty  witnesses,  and  though 
Her  deeds  of  good  have  had  their  ebb  and  flow, 
She  yet  avNaits  in  righteous  strength  sublime 
The  calm  cool  judgment  of  all  after-time." 

But,  alas !  there  is  another  side  of  the  picture. 
Whole  races  have  disappeared  before  the  ad- 
vancing conquests  of  our  sons.  The  foot- 
steps of  our  countrymen  as  they  have  passed 
across  the  world  have  too  often  been  footsteps 
dyed  in  blood.  Africa  has  known  them  as  the 
buyer  of  the  slave.  The  islands  of  the  Pacific 
have  known  them  as  the  stealer  of  their  youth. 
The  aborigines  of  Tasmania  have  known  them 
as  the  exterminators  of  their  race.  Wise  and 
eminent   laymen   often  speak  of  these  things 


SERM.  IX.]  STATESMANSHIP. 


301 


more  plainly  than  we  timid,  conventional 
clergymen,  terrified  as  we  too  often  are  into  a 
decorum  which  is  cowardice,  and  into  a  weak- 
ness of  statement  which  is  a  treachery  against 
eternal  truth.  And  in  the  last  week  one  great 
writer  has  not  scrupled  to  say  that  the  broad 
result  of  the  labours  of  Europe  "  for  the  salva- 
tion of  the  wild  tribes  of  the  New  World,  since 
the  vaunted  discovery  of  it,  may  be  summed  up 
in  the  stern  sentence — death  by  drunkenness 
and  small-pox."'  And  another  great  writer,  that 
whereas  fifty  years  ago  there  were  1,500,000 
Hottentots,  there  are  now  about  20,000,  and  the 
rest  have  perished  by  drink  and  by  disease,' — 
by  drink  and  disease  which  we  have  introduced. 
Ah,  my  brethren,  ought  we  not  to  have  stern 
searchings  of  heart  as  to  the  way  in  which 
we  have  dealt  with  these  other  sheep  of 
Christ,  though  they  be  not  of  this  fold — 
children  with  us  of  a  common  God,  heirs 
with  us  of  a  common  immortality Do  we 

"  J.  Ruskin,  Contemporary  Review,  Feb.  1880. 
'  Froude,  Lectures  on  South  Africa,  \>.  13. 


302 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  ix. 


not  owe  them  an  immense  reparation,  as  well 
as  eternal  duties  ?  And  do  we  not  owe  these 
duties  not  to  them  only  but  to  all  our  brethren 
whether  they  belong  to  our  own  or  to  other 
races  of  mankind  ?  In  two  great  ways  we 
influence  them, — by  war,  and  by  commerce. 
War  is  sometimes  inevitable,  but  we  have  seen 
in  our  own  days  in  a  neighbouring  nation 
the  awful  Nemesis  which  falls  on  those  who 
enter  on  it  "  with  a  light  heart "  ;  and  from 
the  greatest  of  living  generals — from  him  who 
headed  the  German  armies  in  that  struggle — 
come  this  very  week  the  words, — that  "  every 
war,  however  successful,  is  a  general  calamity," 
though  that  desirable  conviction  can  only  be 
produced  by  a  better  moral  and  religious  edu- 
cation of  the  peoples,  "  which,"  he  adds,  "  is 
the  work  of  centuries."  '  War  then  there  must 
sometimes  be ;  only  let  us  see  that  as,  in 
carrying  out  its  dreadful  arbitrament,  our  sons 
have   always   been   heroically  gallant,    so  in 


'  From  a  letter  of  Count  von  Moltke  to  a  Saxon  peasant 


SERM.  IX.]  STATESMANSHIP. 


entering  into  it  we  all  strive  to  be  inflexibly, 
rigidly,  scrupulously  just.  Every  war  that  is 
not  absolutely  indispensable  —  every  war  of 
mere  ambition  and  of  wanton  aggression — -is  a 
sowing  of  dragon's  teeth.  Nor  let  us  ever  forget 
that  on  all  that  we  do — undisturbed  by  sophis- 
tries, unbribed  by  interest,  judging  solely  by 
everlasting  laws  of  righteousness — God  will 
exact  His  strict  retribution,  and  history  record 
her  impartial  verdict. 

And  as  it  is  our  duty  to  mediate  thus  scarch- 
ingly  before  God  about  every  War  on  which 
we  enter,  so  is  it  our  duty  to  look  well  to  our 
Commerce.  Because,  and  in  so  far  as,  our 
commerce  has  been  honest  and  true,  we  have 
held  the  markets  of  the  world.  Adultera- 
tion, greed,  selfish  monopolies  would  soon 
lose  them.  But  is  there  not  one  branch  at 
least  of  our  foreign  commerce  which  demands 
imperiously  and  at  once  the  most  solemn 
attention  of  every  Christian  statesman  Let 
me  ask  of  every  conscience  here  a  plain 
answer  to  a  plain  question.    Is  the  opium  trade 


304 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  ix. 


with  China — yes  or  no — what  the  trade  of  a 
Christian  nation  ought  to  be  ?  Docs  it,  or  does 
it  not  involve  the  utter  ruin  of  the  bodies  and 
souls  of  thousands  of  the  Chinese  ? '  If  it  does, 
is  the  fact  that  it  pours  six  millions  into  the 
revenues  of  India  a  necessity  of  our  position  or 
an  aggravation  of  our  guilt  ?  Necessity,  my 
brethren  ?  God  knows  nothing  of  immoral 
necessities.^'  And  shall  it  be  ever  said  of  Eng- 
land, 

"  So  spake  the  fiend,  and  with  necessity, 

The  tyrant's  plea,  excused  his  devilish  deeds  "  ? 

And  if  the  profits  of  a  pernicious  trade  be 
an  aggravation  of  its  guilt  and  of  our  guilt 
who  share  in  those  profits,  do  we  think  that 
we  shall  be  made  a  special  exception  to  the 

'  These  questions  are  simply  asked  as  questions.  There  can 
be  no  d  ubt  that  the  minds  of  many  in  England  are  uneasy 
about  this  trade,  and  if  it  he  a  moral,  righteous,  or  even  de- 
fensible trade,  all  that  they  desire  is  to  understand  the  grounds 
on  which  it  may  be  so  regarded. 

"  The  words  of  the  Chinese  Imperial  Commissioner  Lin,  in  a 
memorial  sent  to  England,  are  worth  preserving — "  In  the  ways 
of   Heaven  no  partiality  exists,  and  no  sanct  on  is  given  to 


SERM.  IX.]  STATESMANSHIP. 


3^5 


incidence  of  the  slow  but  certain,  of  the  just 
but  inevitable,  punishments  of  Heaven  ?  Or 
if  the  trade  be  as  guilty  and  as  indefensible 
as  to  the  ordinary  onlooker  it  seems  to  be, 
shall  we  nationally  gain  by  the  pecuniary 
profits  of  a  procrastinated  repentance  ?  "  It 
is,"  if  I  may  quote  the  words,  at  the  utter- 
ance of  which  I  once  saw  a  thrill  pass  through 
the  Parliament  of  England,  "  it  is  against  the 
ordinances  of  Providence, — it  is  against  the 
interests  of  man — that  immediate  reparation 
should  be  possible  when  long-continued  evils 
have  been  at  work  ;  for  one  of  the  main  re- 
sults of  misdoing  would  be  removed,  if  at 
any  moment  the  consequences  of  misdoing 
could  be  repaired."     Will  those  consequences 

injure  them  for  the  sake  of  our  own  advantage.  Not  to  use 
opium  oneself,  and  yet  to  venture  on  the  manufacture  and  sale 
«f  it,  and  with  it  to  seduce  the  simple  folk  of  this  land,  this  is  to 
seek  one's  own  livelihood  by  the  exposure  of  others  to  death — 
to  seek  one's  own  advantage  by  other  men's  injury  ;  such  acts 
are  utterly  abhorrent  to  the  nature  of  men,  and  utterly  opposed 
to  the  ways  of  Heaven."  See  British  Opium  Policy,  by  F.  S. 
Turner,  p.  281. 


3o6 


EPHPHATHA.  [seum.  ix 


of  misdoing  be  easier  to  avert  when  they  have 
struck  deeper  roots  and  spread  over  a  wider 
area?  If  this  trade  be  an  immoral  one  —  if 
being  immoral  we  wilfully  continue  it, — then  let 
us  look  to  it,  for  evil  is  before  us.  Righteous- 
ness— you  might  write  it  as  the  epitome  of  all 
history,  upon  the  first  page  of  every  history — 
Righteousness  exalteth  a  nation,  but  sin  is  the 
reproach  of  any  people.  If  we  never  go  to 
war  save  when  justice  and  righteousness  require 
that  we  should  do  so  ; — if  our  dealings  with 
every  other  nation,  whether  weak  or  strong, 
whether  civilised  or  savage,  be  rigidly  and 
chivalrously  upright ; — if  our  commerce  be  not 
corrupted  at  the  fount  by  that  horrible  selfish- 
ness which  sacrifices  nations  to  its  insatiate 
greed  of  gain  ; — then  we  may  expect,  and  we 
shall  receive  a  blessing  from  the  God  of  all 
nations,  for  then  the  one  principle  of  all  our 
foreign  policy  will  be  this, — to  aim  at  ever 
finding  our  own  highest  good  in  the  highest 
good  of  all  mankind. 

And  if  that  be  the  only  righteous  answer 


SERM.  IX.]  STATESMANSHIP. 


to  the  question,  what  ought  to  be  the  one  in- 
forming idea  of  our  foreign  policy,  is  not  the 
answer  as  to  our  domestic  policy  like  to  it  ? 
Ought  not  that  also  to  be  directed  simply  and 
solely  with  a  view  to  the  common  good  of 
all  ?  Is  there  no  earnest  vigilance  necessary 
to  beat  back  the  encroachments  of  selfishness 
on  the  national  wellbeing  ?  Do  we  need  no 
care  to  prevent  the  growth  and  the  assertion 
of  vested  interests  in  anything  which  is  the 
cause  of  national  calamity?  Is  there  no  need 
of  the  courage  which  scorns  all  popularity 
save  that  which  is  bestowed  by  after  ages  on 
good  and  virtuous  actions  ?  Has  there  been 
no  need,  in  all  ages  and  in  all  lands,  for  legis- 
lators to  escape  the  average  ?  to  rise  above  the 
conventional?  to  fix  their  eyes  not  on  the 
interests  of  passing  combinations,  but  on  the 
immutable  demands  of  truth  and  right  ?  Has 
there  never  been  more  than  one  statesman  of 
whom  it  might  have  been  written, 

"  Who  meant  for  the  universe,  narrowed  his  mind, 
And  to  party  gave  up  what  was  meant  for  mankind?" 

X  2 


3o8 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  ix. 


Have  there  been  no  occasions  on  which  men 
have  been  so  carried  away  by  gusts  of  popular 
excitement,  that  instead  of  regarding  the  odium 
incurred  by  righteous  dealing  as  the  highest 
glory,  we  might  well  ask  of  them, 

"  Beneath  the  heroic  sun, 
Is  there  not  one 

Whose  sinewy  wings  of  choice  do  fly 

In  the  fine  mountain  air  of  public  obloquy  ?  " 

How  wide,  my  brethren,  how  noble  is  the  sphere 
of  enlightened  Christian  politics  !  What  ample 
scope  is  there  still  for  men  to  win  a  civic  wreath 
as  green  as  that  of  Chatham  or  Wilberforce !  To 
see  that  the  very  weakest  and  humblest  be  safe 
under  the  inviolable  protection  of  equal  laws  ; 
to  see  that  by  the  universal  extension  of  sound 
learning  and  religious  education  a  limit  be  put 
to  brutality  and  vice  ; — to  see  that  there  be  a 
national  acknowledgment  of  our  allegiance  to 
Him  before  whom  all  nations  are  but  as  dust 
in  the  balance  —  does  this  open  no  sphere  of 
action  wide  enough  for  the  most  soaring  am- 
bition ?    Have  we  nothing  to  do  for  the  laws 


SERM.  IX.]  STATESMANSHIP. 


of  health  ?  by  controlling  the  sale  of  poisonous 
drugs;  by  interfering  in  time  to  prevent  the 
rapid  growths  of  new  vices;  by  daring  —  ere 
it  be  too  late, —ere  the  neglected  opportunity 
becomes  an  irreparable  curse  —  to  save  yet 
another  generation  from  the  curse  of  drunken- 
ness ?  Is  there  nothing  to  do  for  our  native  land 
to  save  its  green  fields  from  being  blackened 
by  the  ashes  of  the  furnace  ;  its  seas  from  the 
exhaustion  of  their  riches ;  its  waving  woods 
from  being  withered  by  the  noxious  gases  of 
the  manufacturer  ;  its  sweet  rivers  from  being 
poisoned  by  influxes  of  putrescent  slime  ? 
Is  there  no  improvement  to  be  hoped  for  in 
our  cities  ?  If  private  magnanimity  be  among 
Englishmen  well-nigh  a  dead  virtue,  is  there  no 
need  of  public  magnanimity  to  carry  out  with 
imperial  munificence  the  great  works  which 
adorn  and  beautify  them  ?  To  touch  on  small 
matters  at  our  very  doors,  are  there  no  means 
to  prevent  every  foreigner  and  American  who 
visits  England  from  seeing  such  a  scandalous 
and   grimy  waste  as  this  churchyard  is,  at 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  ix. 


the  very  centre  of  our  national  life,  and  at  the 
very  gates  of  our  grandest  cathedral  ?  Is  there 
no  power  to  check  the  hideousness  and  indecency 
of  scandalous  placards  ?  is  nothing  to  save  us 
from  being  depressed,  for  weeks  together,  with 
the  dense  foulness  of  smoky  fogs  ?  And  is 
there  nothing  to  be  done  in  greater  matters 
than  these  ?  If  there  was  exaggeration  in  the 
tones  which  told  us  that  in  our  great  cities  the 
poor  were  often  "swept  into  incestuous  heaps, 
or  into  dens  and  caves  which  are  only  tombs 
disquieted,"  still  is  there  no  necessity  for  the 
stern  beneficence  of  righteous  legislation  to 
demand  and  to  insist  that  they  should  not  be 
huddled  together  in  the  seething  immorality 
of  unwholesome  and  unhallowed  tenements  ? 
And  is  there  not  need  of  perpetual  interference 
to  protect  the  helplessness  of  individual  rights  ? 
Much,  we  most  thankfully  admit  —  we  may 
before  God  most  humbly  plead  —  much  has 
been  done  for  the  boys  and  girls  in  our  fac- 
tories ;  for  the  peasant  children  of  our  fields ; 
for  the  waifs  and  strays  of  our  streets ;  for 


SERM.  IX.]       STATESMANSHIP.  311 


the  suppression  of  dangerous  employments  ; 
for  the  alleviation  of  unwholesome  trades  ;  for 
the  safety  of  railway  passengers ;  for  the  rights 
of  those  injured  by  machinery ;  to  save  our 
sons  from  being  passed  through  the  fire  to 
Moloch,  and  our  sailors  plunged  in  the  sea  to 
Mammon — much  has  been  done,  but  there  is 
much  more  to  do.  Take  but  one  instance  ; — 
we  talk  of  the  cruel  and  vulgar  amusements 
of  the  ancient  Romans  ;  can  anything  be  much 
more  cruel  and  vulgar  than  the  disgusting  sight 
of  young  men  and  young  women  half-clad  shot 
through  the  air  from  a  catapult  at  a  height  of 
sixty  feet  t  and  can  we  wonder  that  while  such 
are  the  favourite  sights  demanded  by  the  raw 
and  crude  vulgarity  of  sightseers,  three  times 
in  the  last  few  weeks  these  unhappy  persons, 
— who  also  suffer  much  in  being  trained 
for  such  wretched  spectacles — have  met  with 
the  painful  and  shocking  accidents  which  the 
newspapers  record  } '    Talk  of  encroachments 

'  Since  these  words  were  written  I  have  read  the  following 
passage,  wrilrten  by  the  Queen's  command  to  the  Mayor  of 


312 


EPHPHATHA. 


[SERM.  IX. 


on  individual  liberty,  these  things  are  encroach- 
ments on  individual  liberty.  There  is  no 
true  liberty  but  that  which  consists  in  loyal 
obedience  to  beneficent  laws.  There  is  no  true 
liberty  in  each  man  being  suffered  to  infringe 
as  he  likes  upon  the  liberty  of  others.  There 
is  no  true  liberty  in  an  exaggerated  individual- 
ism. A  country  demoralised  by  the  terrible 
fascination  of  multiplied  temptation  is  a  country 
not  free,  but  enslaved  by  its  own  worst  interests 
and  fettered  by  its  own  vilest  propensities. 
Let  all  such  freedom  be  sternly  repressed  ;  it 

Birmingham  in  1863  : — On  July  20  a  poor  woman,  who  went 
by  the  name  of  the  French  Blondin,  had  been  killed  by  a  fall 
from  the  tightrope,  and  the  sports  of  the  assembled  multitude 
had  been  continued  as  though  nothing  had  occurred.  "  Her 
Majesty,"  so  the  letter  ran,  "  cannot  refrain  from  making  known 
to  you  her  personal  feelings  of  horror  that  one  of  her  subjects 
— a  female — should  have  been  sacrifued  to  the  gratification  of 
the  demoralidng  taste,  unfortunately  prevalent,  attended  with 
the  greatest  danger  to  the  performers.  Were  any  proof  want- 
ing that  such  exhibitions  are  demoralising,  I  am  commanded 
to  remark  that  it  would  be  at  once  found  in  the  decision  arrived 
at  to  continue  the  festivities,  the  hilarity,  and  the  sports  of  the 
occasion  after  an  event  so  melancholy."  See  Molesworth's 
History,  iii.  319. 


SERM.  IX.]  STATESMANSHir. 


does  but  film  the  ulcerous  place  of  slavery  ;  it 
is  the  freedom  of  reckless  selfishness,  base  in  its 
origin  and  demoralising  in  its  issues. 

'  He  is  a  freeman  whom  the  truth  makes  free, 
And  all  are  slaves  besides." 

In  one  last  word,  then,  of  all  that  I  have  said 
this  is  the  sum  :  Let  godless  philosophy  say 
what  it  will,  let  a  cold-blooded  political  economy 
say  what  it  will,  I  say  that  unless  all  history  be 
a  delusion  and  all  Scripture  a  lie,  then  "  What  is 
morally  wrong  cannot  be  politically  right."  Of 
our  domestic  policy  I  say  that  the  duty  of  every 
Government  is  to  make  it  "difficult  to  do  wrong 
and  easy  to  do  right ;  "  and  that  "  every  state's 
organisation  is  perverted,  perverse,  and  doomed 
to  ruin,  where  single  individuals,  or  single  classes 
have  the  pretension  to  constitute  the  broad  bases 
of  society."  And  of  our  foreign  policy  I  say 
that  our  intercourse  with  all  nations  whether 
strong  or  weak,  will  be  always  wrong,  and  must 
be  ultimately  fatal,  if  it  be  not  based  on  the 
principle   that   international   morality  has  no 


314 


EPHPHATHA. 


[SERM.  IX, 


separate  code,  but  is  only  a  wider  application  of 
the  Christian  ethics.  "  Mankind,"  said  a  great 
patriot  and  a  great  orator,  "  has  but  one  single 
aim  ;  it  is  Mankind  itself ;  and  that  aim  has  but 
one  single  instrument — Mankind  again."  "  God," 
said  an  inspired  Apostle,  speaking  to  contempt- 
uous Pagans,  "  hath  made  of  one  blood  all 
nations  of  men  to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the 
earth,  and  hath  determined  the  times  before 
appointed,  and  the  bounds  of  their  habitation  ; 
that  they  should  seek  the  Lord,  if  haply  they 
might  feel  after  him,  and  find  him,  though  he 
be  not  far  from  every  one  of  us :  for  in  him  we 
live,  and  move,  and  have  our  being;  ascertain 
also  of  your  own  poets  have  said,  For  we  are 
also  his  offspring." 


SERMON  X. 
MANY  FOLDS:  ONE  FLOCK. 


O  merciful  God,  who  hnst  made  all  men,  and  hatest  nothing 
that  Thou  hast  made,  nor  wouldest  the  death  of  a  sinner,  but 
rather  that  he  should  be  converted  and  live,  we  beseech  Thee 
graciously  to  behold  this  Thy  family,  for  which  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  was  contented  to  be  betrayed  and  given  up  into  the  hands 
of  wicked  men,  and  to  suffer  death  upon  the  Cross,  who  now 
liveth  and  reigneth  with  Thee  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  world  without 
end.    Amen. — Collects  for  Good  Friday. 


SERMON  X.» 


John  x.  i6. 

"And  other  sheep  I  have  which  are  not  of  this  fold  -  them  also  I 
must  bring,  and  they  shall  hear  my  voice;  and  there  shall  be 
one  flock,  one  shepherd." 

You  heard  these  memorably  beautiful  words, 
my  brethren,  in  this  morning's  Gospel  ;  and 
many  of  you  will  have  detected  a  slight  altera- 
tion in  my  reading  of  the  text  ;  our  English 
version  has  "  Other  sheep  I  have  which  are 
not  of  this  fold,  them  also  I  must  bring 
that  they  may  be  all  one  fold  and  one 
shepherd."  But  the  two  words  rendered 
"  fold "  are  in  the  Greek  different ;  what  our 
Lord   says  is  that  He,  as  the  one,  as  the 

"  Preached  in  Westminster  Abbey  on  April  27tb,  1879. 


320 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  x. 


Good  Shepherd,  must  lead  His  other  sheep 
not  of  this  fold  that  they  may  all  be  one 
flock,  one  shepherd.  The  folds  may  ever  be 
different  ;  the  fiock  is  always  to  be  one.  It  is 
one  of  the  many  points  in  which  our  English 
version  loses  by  want  of  perfect  accuracy.  That 
version  is  as  a  whole  incomparable  in  its  melody 
and  force  ;  it  will  ever  continue  to  speak  to  the 
ear  like  music,  to  the  heart  like  a  voice  that 
can  never  be  forgotten  ;  but  in  many  points  it 
will  gain  in  perfectness  and  truth  by  the  revi- 
sion which  it  is  now  receiving,  and  since  it  will 
lose  nothing  and  gain  much,  we  cannot  doubt 
that  the  forthcoming  version  will  be  accepted 
with  the  welcome  which  it  deserves. 

2.  There  is  an  almost  inexhaustible  depth 
and  wisdom  in  these  words ;  and  it  would  be 
well  for  us,  if,  instead  of  our  crude  theories  of 
a  mechanical  inspiration — which  have  been 
theories  fraught  in  all  ages  with  the  pride  and 
intolerance  of  individuals,  with  injury  to  the 
Church,  and  with  mischief  to  mankind — it 
would  be  well  for  us,  I  say,  if,  instead  of  this 


SERM.  X.]  MANY  FOLDS:  ONE  FLOCK.  32 1 


superstitious  exaltation  of  the  letter  which 
killeth,  we  accustomed  ourselves  to  understand 
in  their  full  significance — in  the  spirit  which 
giveth  life, — were  it  but  a  few  of  those  passages 
which  reveal  to  us  the  deep  things  of  God. 
In  this  verse,  for  instance,  there  lies  a  truth 
hidden  from  men  for  aeons,  but  now  revealed. 
That  truth  is  the  great  Idea  of  Humanity 
— of  the  whole  race  of  mankind  as  gathered 
up  into  one  under  the  Federal  Headship  of 
its  Lord. 

3.  In  this  meaning  the  very  word  Humanity 
was  unknown  to  the  ancient  world.  In  Greek 
there  is  nothing  corresponding  to  it ;  in  Latin, 
Humanitas  means  kindly  nature  or  "  refined 
culture."  The  Jew  looked  on  the  world  as 
divided  into  Jews  and  Gentiles  ;  of  which  the 
Jews  were  the  children  of  the  Most  Highest, 
the  Gentiles  dogs  and  sinners.  The  Greeks 
looked  on  the  world  as  divided  into  Greeks  and 
barbarians  ;  of  which  the  Greeks  were  the  lords 
of  the  human  race,  the  barbarians  were  natural 
enemies  and  natural  slaves.     Jew  and  Greek 

Y 


322 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  x. 


and  barbarian,  alike  looked  on  mankind  as 
divided  into  men  and  women  ;  of  which  women 
were  fit  only  for  ignorance  and  seclusion,  as 
the  chattels  of  man's  pleasure  and  the  servants 
of  his  caprice.  And  what  was  the  consequence 
of  these  errors  ?  It  was  that  the  ancient  world 
was  cursed  with  a  triple  curse, — the  curse  of 
slavery,  the  curse  of  corruption,  the  curse  of 
endless  wars.  What  had  Christianity  to  say  to 
this  state  of  things  1  She  taught  emphatically 
and  for  the  first  time  that  there  is  no  favour- 
itism with  God  ;  that  God  is  no  respecter  of 
persons  ;  that  in  God's  sight  all  men  are  equally 
guilty,  all  equally  redeemed  ;  that  each  man  is 
exactly  so  great  as  he  is  in  God's  sight  and  no 
greater  ;  that  man  is  to  be  honoured  simply  as 
man,  and  not  for  the  honours  of  his  station, 
or  the  accidents  of  his  birth  ;  that  neither 
the  religious  privileges  of  the  Jew,  nor  the  in- 
tellectual endowments  of  the  Greeks,  made 
them  any  dearer  to  God  than  any  other  children 
in  His  great  family  of  man.  Christianity  taught 
us  in  the  words  of  St.  Peter,  to  honour  all 


SERM.  X.]  MANY  FOLDS:  ONE  FLOCK.  323 


men;'  and  in  the  words  of  St.  Paul,  that  in 
Christ  Jesus  there  is  neither  circumcision  nor 
uncircumcision  ;  neither  Jew  nor  Gceek  ;  neither 
male  nor  female  ;  neither  barbarian,  Scythian, 
bond  nor  free  ;  but  Christ  all  and  in  all.^  And 
these  great  apostles  thus  taught,  because,  in  the 
view  of  our  Lord  and  Master,  mankind  were  in- 
deed as  sheep  without  a  shepherd, — scattered  by 
a  thousand  wolves,  and  wandering  in  the  dark 
and  cloudy  day, — but  He  is  the  Good  Shepherd, 
whose  work  it  was  to  seek  for  His  lost  sheep, 
and  bring  them  back  again  into  His  one  flock. 
In  the  Jewish  temple  ran  a  middle  wall  of  par- 
tition, on  which  were  stern  inscriptions  forbid- 
ding any  Gentile  to  set  foot  within  it  on  pain  of 
death  ;  Jesus  came  to  break  down  that  middle 
wall ;  to  make  God's  Temple  co-extensive  with 
the  universe,  and  its  worshippers  with  all 
mankind.  The  Gospel  introduced  then  into  the 
world  a  new,  a  glorious,  a  beneficent  concep- 
tion :  the  conception  of  mankind  as  one  great 

"  I  Pet.  ii.  17, 

'  I  Cor.  vii.  19  ;  Gal.  v.  6,  vi.  15  ;  Col.  iii.  11. 

Y  2 


324 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  x. 


brotherhood  bound  together  by  the  law  of  love ; 
as  one  great  race ; — united  to  the  universe  by- 
natural  laws  ;  united  to  God  by  the  common 
mysteries  of  creation  and  redemption  ;  united 
to  all  the  dead  by  the  continuity,  to  all  the 
living  by  the  solidarity  of  life.  And  the  result 
of  this  grand  conception  is  a  deadening  of  that 
mean  and  narrow  selfishness  which  is  the  worst 
curse  of  our  nature ;  a  widening  of  the  horizon 
of  our  hopes  and  aims ;  a  throwing  down  of 
ignorance  and  prejudice  ;  a  more  cheerful  and 
hearty  devotion  to  our  common  work  on  earth, 
which  is  the  increase  of  man's  happiness  by  the 
free  development  of  his  spiritual  nature.  We 
learn  from  it  that  the  Christianity  of  the  pure 
Gospel  is  essentially  social ;  that  it  aims  at 
universal  amelioration  as  well  as  at  individual 
holiness ;  that  from  the  common  mystery  of 
Death,  and  the  common  blessings  of  salvation, 
should  flow  an  exuberance  of  kindness,  in  which 
the  dearest  personal  interests  are  recognised  as 
identical  with  the  highest  general  good.  It  is 
thus  from  God's  own  word  that  we  learn  that 


SERM.  X.]  MJJVV  FOZnS :  ONE  FLOCK.  325 


love  to  Him  our  Father  is  best  shown  by  love 
to  man  our  brother  ;  that  "  No  man  for  himself, 
every  man  for  all,"  expresses  the  very  ideal  of 
a  Christian  society ;  that  "  mankind  has  but 
one  single  aim — mankind  itself  :  and  that  aim 
but  one  single  instrument — mankind  again." 

4.  My  brethren,  these  truths — all  truths — are 
worse  than  useless  if  they  be  left  neglected  in 
the  lumber-room  of  the  memory.  These  sound- 
ing generalities  do  positive  harm, — because  they 
act  as  opiates  to  the  conscience, — if  we  are  un- 
prepared to  give  them  a  practical  application. 
But  will  you  look  with  me  a  little  closer  at  this 
great  doctrine — that  with  God  there  is  no 
favouritism ;  and  that  all  the  races  and  ranks 
of  men  are  one  in  Christ — and  shall  we 
very  humbly  try  to  see  together  whether  it 
suggests  no  solemn  lessons  for  our  daily  life  ? 

i.   Many  folds ;   one  flock  ;    one  shepherd. 
Look  at  home.     What  is  the  first  great  obvi- 
ous fact  of  society  which  strikes  the  attention 
Is  it  not  the  vast  difference  between  rich  and 
poor  .''    It  is  perfectly  true,  that  one  half  the 


326 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  x. 


world  does  not  "know  how  the  other  half  lives. 
A  book  was  lately  written  in  France  which  pro- 
fessed to  be  a  picture  of  the  life  of  the  lowest 
orders  of  French  society ;  and  doubtless  to  the 
revolting  realism  of  the  photograph  has  been 
due  its  immense  success.'  It  is  a  book  to  make 
the  blood  run  cold  ;  and  yet  any  one,  who,  in 
those  dim  regions  where  pauperism  reaches  to 
the  border-land  of  crime,  has  seen  anything  of 
the  life  of  those  classes, — its  dirt,  its  squalor, 
its  disease,  its  shamelessness,  its  drunkenness, 
its  blasphemy,  its  brutality,  its  awful  ignor- 
ance, its  reckless  obliteration  of  every  religious 
impulse  and  every  moral  law, — knows  how  much 
there  is  of  frightful  truth  in  that  dark  picture. 
What  others  think  I  know  not,  as  to  the  fate  and 
future  of  these  the  too  often  worse  than  savages 
of  a  nominal  Christianity;  but,  in  the  light  of  the 
great  truths  we  have  been  contemplating,  I  will 
ask  are  we  acting  faithfully,— /zi^zf  are  we  acting 
towards  the  destitute  and  the  criminal  classes  t 
Are  we  so  much  as  giving  them  a  cup  of  cold 

'  L'Assommoir,  par  Emile  Zola. 


s^K'si.  yi.]  MANY  FOLDS :  ONE  FLOCK.  327 


water?  are  we  ignoring  their  condition  and 
putting  it  out  of  sight  ?  are  we  pretending  to  sigh 
for  wretchedness,  while  we  shun  the  wretched  ? 
Are  we,  as  we  devote  our  sordid  lives  to  making 
money,  of  which  we  shall  perhaps  dole  or  fling 
to  them  say  a  thousandth  fraction,  —  are  we 
asking,  "  Am  I  my  brother's  keeper  ?  "  If  cha- 
ritable or  kind  at  all,  are  we  more  than  content 
with  being  charitable  by  substitute  and  kind  by 
proxy  ?  Are  we  trying  to  salve  our  consciences 
by  promiscuous  alms,  though  we  know,  or  might 
know,  that  such  alms  are  incredibly  pernicious  ? 
When  we  hear  the  ravages  caused  by  the  mad- 
ness of  intemperance,  are  we  contented  to  sacri- 
fice the  well-being  of  millions  to  the  vested 
interests  of  millionaires  ?  Are  we  only  thrusting 
to  the  perishing  working  classes  the  sponge  full 
of  the  vinegar  of  our  sham  sympathy  ;  and  smil- 
ing supercilious  superiority  at  the  fanatics  who 
are  willing  to  practise  some  small  self-denial 
while  the  world  standeth,  if  by  doing  so  they 
can  less  make  their  brothers  to  offend  ?  We 
call  ourselves  Christians.     The  day  was  when 


EPHFHATHA.  [serm.  x. 


Christians  did  something ;  when  their  love  and 
their  freedom  were  twin  spirits  which  spread 
over  suffering  humanity  their  healing  wings.  The 
early  Church,  the  Mediaeval  Church,  did  more 
than  we.  In  days  when  rank  was  well-nigh 
deified,  she  made  Popes  of  peasants'  sons,  and 
bade  Kings  hold  the  stirrups  of  their  mules.  In 
days  when  the  weak  were  prostrate  at  the  feet  of 
the  strong  she  not  only  pleaded  with  the  strong 
for  the  weak,  but  made  the  cause  of  the  weak 
her  own.  In  days  when  force  was  terribly  pre- 
dominant, it  was  the  Church  alone  which  dared 
to  dash  down  the  mailed  arm  of  the  baron 
when  it  was  uplifted  to  strike  his  serf  Our 
problems  are  less  difficult,  our  work  less  dan- 
gerous ;  but  we  do  not  face  them.  We  leave 
standing  the  most  horrible  streets  ;  we  suffer 
temptation  to  be  sown  broadcast  with  scarce 
so  much  as  an  attempt  to  check  it ;  we  are 
more  afraid  of  wealth,  and  capital,  and  class- 
interests  than  our  fathers  were  of  the  swords 
of  pitiless  barbarians,  and  the  wrath  of  auto- 
cratic kings.    Surely  when  we  look  at  the  vast 


SERM.  X.]  MANY  FOLDS:  ONE  FLOCK.  3^9 


problems  which  face  us, — the  neglect  of  which 
is  certain  at  last  to  wreak  its  Nemesis  upon 
us, — when  we  look  at  the  discontent  of  the 
working  classes,  at  the  condition  of  the  poor, — 
we  shall  see  more  clearly  the  duty  of  not 
leaving  those  problems  hopelessly  unsolved, 
if  we  remember  that  these  poorer  classes,  no 
less  than  we,  are  the  sheep  of  Christ's  pasture, 
and  the  people  of  His  hand. 

ii.  Many  folds ;  one  flock ;  one  shepherd. 
Look  at  the  Church.  We  belong  to  one  fold 
of  it  ;  but  when  Christ  says,  "  Other  sheep  I 
have  which  are  not  of  this  fold,"  does  He  not 
warn  us  that  we  are  not  His  only  fold  ;  that 
His  flock  is  wide  as  humanity  ;  that  it  is  scat- 
tered in  many  folds  How  many  men  try  to 
make  an  exclusive  fold  of  their  own  Church  ! 
How  often  have  Romanists  written  as  though 
they  excluded  all  Protestants,  and  Protestants 
as  though  they  excluded  all  Romanists  and 
Churchmen  as  though  they  excluded  all  Dis- 
senters, and  Dissenters  all  Churchmen,  almost 
from  the  pale  of  salvation  !    How  has  the  living 


330 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm  x. 


Rock  of  the  blessed  Scriptures  been  broken  up 
into  heaps  of  ruinous  missiles  !  How  has  the 
battlefield  of  theology  rung  with  angry  and  im- 
potent anathemas !  Alas  !  that  men  can  no 
longer  say,  "  See  how  these  Christians  love  one 
another  ! "  Alas  !  that  the  warning  should  be  as 
needful  after  nineteen  centuries  of  Christianity, 
as  it  was  to  the  Galatian  Church,  "  But  if  ye 
bite  and  devour  one  another,  take  heed  that 
ye  be  not  consumed  one  of  another."  Whence 
spring  these  mutual  exasperations,  these  party 
collisions,  these  factious  invectives,  these  "vain 
word-battlings  "  ?  They  spring  for  the  most  part 
from  the  egotism  of  ignorance  ;  from  the  pride 
of  system  ;  from  the  dogmatism  of  the  illite- 
rate ;  from  the  intolerance  of  unchastened  hearts 
and  narrow  minds.  Oh,  can  we  never  learn  that 
truth  has  many  aspects  ;  that  none  of  us  has 
any  monopoly  of  it  ;  that  very  many  of  those 
who  differ  from  us  may  be  more  sincere,  more 
learned,  more  holy,  more  competent  than  our- 
selves }  Well,  at  any  rate  the  warning  stands, 
which  shows  us  that  we  can  as  easily  make  an 


SERM.  X.]  MANY  FOLDS:  ONE  FLOCK.  33 1 


inclosure  in  God's  common  air  as  in  His  infinite 
grace — "  Other  sheep  I  have  which  are  not  of 
this  fold ;  them  also  I  must  bring,  and  they 
shall  hear  my  voice." 

iii.  Many  folds  ;  one  flock  ;  one  shepherd.  If 
it  be  so  with  classes,  and  with  Churches,  is  it 
not  also  so  with  nations  ?  In  the  days  of  our 
fathers,  it  was  the  fashion  of  Englishmen  and 
Frenchmen  to  regard  themselves  as  "natural 
enemies ; "  and,  partly  because  of  the  selfish 
ambition  of  Napoleon,  Christian  nations,  armed 
to  the  very  teeth,  watched  each  other,  year  after 
year,  with  furious  detestation.  Is  there  no 
danger  of  the  same  evil  spirit  arising  between 
England  and  other  nations  now  ?  I  speak  of 
course  in  no  sense  as  a  politician  ;  I  speak  only 
as  a  Christian,  when  I  deplore  this  recrudescence 
of  national  hatreds.  "  Sirs,  ye  are  brethren," 
was  the  voice  of  the  Church  of  old  to  warring 
kings.  It  was  a  voice  which  utterly  condemned 
the  old  contemptuous  exclusiveness  of  ancient 
Greece;  the  cunning,  cruel,  tortuous  policy 
of  ancient  Rome.     What,  during  these  long 


332 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  x. 


centuries,  has  been  the  history  of  England  and 
Russia  ?  From  the  Oxus  valley,  the  cradle  of 
the  great  Aryan  race,  rolled  westward  the 
mighty  streams  of  emigration,  that  subdued, 
civilised,  and  ennobled  Europe  ; — first,  the  Celtic 
race ;  then  the  Teutonic  to  which  we  belong ; 
lastly,  the  Slavonic  or  Russian.  We,  still  ad- 
vancing ever  westward,  in  the  fulfilment  of  our 
destiny  on  the  track  of  commerce,  traversed 
half  the  globe,  and  reached  and  conquered 
India  by  sea.  The  Russians,  rolling  back  east- 
ward, as  it  were,  on  the  old  channels  of  our 
race,  have  well-nigh  reached  the  confines  of 
India  by  land.  Ten  years  ago,  speaking  in 
public  of  events  as  probable  which  since  have 
happened,  I  asked,  as  I  now  ask  again,  "  Shall 
these  two  Aryan  races — the  Slav  and  the  Teu- 
ton— meet  as  brothers  or  as  enemies  Shall 
our  intercourse  be  the  intercourse  of  mutual 
amity,  or  of  deadly  warfare  Let  the  know- 
ledge of  our  past  history  decide  us  in  favour 
of  pacific  and  beneficent  counsels.  And  so, 
contemplating  the  great  tidal  wave  of  Aryan 


SERM.  X.]  MANY  FOLDS:  ONE  FLOCK.  333 


migration  as  it  flows  and  ebbs  around  our  globe, 
let  us  see  that  it  be  for  the  blessing  of  man- 
kind."' So  I  spoke  before  the  Royal  Institution 
ten  years  ago  ;  and  may  we  not  at  least  aim  at 
this  now  ?  Far  off  I  know  is  the  day  when  war 
shall  be  no  more;  but  when  I  think  not  only 
of  the  horrors  of  actual  war  ;  but  of  the  dis- 
turbance of  the  world's  progress  by  mutual 
jealousies ;  and  the  hindrance  to  the  world's 
peaceful  industries  by  war's  uncertainties;  and 
of  the  loss  to  the  world's  suffering  peoples  by 
bloated  armaments,  then  it  seems  to  me  that 

"  Were  half  the  power  which  fills  the  vvorld  with  terror. 
Were  half  the  wealth  bestowed  on  warring  courts. 
Given  to  redeem  the  soul  from  sin  and  error, 
There  were  no  need  of  arsenals  and  forts." 

One  of  the  grandest,  one  of  the  most  Christian 
of  our  acts  as  a  great  people,  in  the  eyes  of 
generations  yet  unborn,  will  be,  I  think,  that  in 
which  we,  "  an  old  and  haughty  nation  proud  in 

■  Tliis  is  a  brief  extract  from  a  longer  passage  devoted  to 
this  subject  in  the  second  of  four  lectures  delivered  before 
the  Koyal  Institution  in  March,  1869,  and  published  under 
the  title  of  "  Families  of  Speech."  (Messrs.  Longman  &  Co.) 


334 


EPHPHATHA. 


[SERM.  X. 


arms  "  made  of  the  Bible  in  very  truth  our 
"  Statesman's  Manual,"  and  applying  the  les- 
sons of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  to  the  in- 
tercourse not  of  individuals  but  of  continents, 
by  accepting  the  hostile  award  of  an  arbitra- 
tion, recovered  the  lost  affection,  revived  the 
offended  brotherhood,  of  a  kindred  but  alien- 
ated power.  When  we  have  well  learnt  the 
lesson  thus  to  seek  peace,  then  soon  shall — 

"  The  war-drums  throb  no  longer,  and  the  battle  flags  be  furled 
In  the  parliament  of  Man,  the  federation  of  the  world  ; " 

for  then  indeed  shall  all  Christian  nations 
present  the  spectacle — dear  to  heaven  if  not 
to  earth, — dear  to  God's  purpose  if  not  to  man's 
passion — of  one  flock,  under  one  shepherd, 
— and  that  Shepherd  the  Prince  of  Peace. 
•  iv. '  Christian  nations  ? — And  are  we  then  to 
exclude  the  savage,  the  barbarian  ?  No  !  many 
folds  ;  one  flock ;  one  shepherd.  The  Scythians 
were  regarded  as  the  lowest  of  all  barbarians 
in  the  days  of  St.  Paul ;  yet  he  wrote  that,  in 
Christ  Jesus,  there  was  neither  Jew  nor  Greek, 


SERM.  X.]  MANY  FOLDS:  ONE  FLOCK.  335 


barbarian,  Scythian,  bond  or  free, — but  Christ  all 
and  in  all.  Our  newspapers  talk  of  our  enemies 
as  "  morose  savages "  and  "miserable  barbari- 
ans." Such  terms  may  be  correct  ; — but  would 
not  St.  Paul  have  said,  in  these  days,  that 
"  in  Christ  Jesus,  there  is  neither  Englishman 
nor  Russian,  neither  Zulu  nor  Afghan,  but 
Christ  all  and  in  all  "  Surely  the  Huns  and 
Vandals  and  Visigoths  of  the  early  centuries 
were  savage  enough  ;  but  when  the  frontiers 
of  the  tottering  Empire  echoed  their  threaten- 
ing footsteps,  it  is  Gibbon  himself  who  bears 
witness  that  the  Church  of  Christ, — as  it  had 
prevailed  over  the  atheism  and  luxury  of 
ancient  civilisation — tamed  also  the  hard  hearts 
of  the  barbarous  invaders.  So  far  from  declar- 
ing menacingly  and  contemptuously  against 
them,  she  won  them  by  her  brotherhood,  she 
overawed  them  with  her  sanctity.  When  arms 
and  armies  were  being  swept  away  before  their 
course,  her  Bishops  checked  that  course  by  rais- 
ing before  them  the  barriers  of  a  moral  idea,  of  a 
spiritual  power ;  and  savages  who  had  seen  such 


336 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  x- 


types  of  noble  excellence  as  a  Leo  and  a  Bene- 
dict,— an  Ulphilas  and  a  Severinus, — a  Boni- 
face and  an  Olaf, — were  won  over  by  veneration, 
and  by  gratitude,  to  mould  themselves,  with  all 
that  was  valuable  in  the  conquered  civilisation, 
into  one  splendid,  permanent,  and  progressive 
society.  Has  modern  England,  has  England 
in  the  last  two  centuries,  dealt  as  faithfully  and 
as  Christianly  with  dusky  and  savage  tribes  ? 
Will  the  Tasmanians,  will  the  Australians,  will 
the  Negroes,  will  the  Pacific  Islanders,  will  the 
North  American  Indians,  will  the  Maories,  will 
the  Hindoos,  will  the  Chinese,  have  no  protests 
to  record,  no  witness  to  bear  against  us  on  the 
page  of  history  ? 

Ah,  my  brethren,  the  answer  to  these 
questions,  be  it  favourable  or  unfavourable,  is 
written  in  the  Books  of  God.  Do  not  think 
that  I  am  touching  on  these  our  present  wars 
and  rumours  of  wars  ; '  my  thoughts  are  taking 
a  much  wider  range.  I  know  that  there  are 
good  men,  and  kind-hearted  men,  and  men  with 

•  This  sermon  was  delivered  in  April,  1879. 


siEHM.  X.]  MANY  FOZI?S :  ONE  FLOCK.  337 


a  thousandfold  better  opportunities  of  judging 
than  ourselves,  who  hold  that  there  is  grim  need 
that  our  sons  and  brothers  should  be  fighting 
against  savages ;  and  this  at  any  rate  is  no 
place  to  discuss  the  question  ; — but  this  I  say — 
that  when,  for  instance,  we  learnt  four  days  ago 
how  these  poor  ignorant  savages  advanced  in 
crowds  against  our  entrenchments  ;— how  the 
Gatling  gun  poured  its  dread  volleys  upon  them; 
— how  they  could  not  pierce  our  impenetrable 
veil  of  fire ;  how,  without  their  once  being  able 
to  get  within  twenty  or  thirty  yards  of  our  camp, 
while  we  were  scarcely  touched,  2,000  of  them 
lay  stretched  on  the  field  of  death ;  oh,  then 
surely  I  am  but  speaking  the  language  of  every 
Christian — the  language  of  every  good  man  of 
whatever  politics  or  party — when  I  say  that 
such  wars  are  at  the  very  best  a  most  miser- 
able necessity.  At  least  no  good  man  can 
speak  lightly  of  them  ;  no  good  man  can  affect 
a  cynical  tone  about  them ;  no  good  man  can 
think  that  there  can  be  any  glory  to  England 
from  these  dreadful  responsibilities  of  her 
Empire.    There  was  an  Indian  Mutiny  twenty 

z 


338 


EPHPHATHA.  [slrm.  x. 


years  ago,  and  terribly  we  avenged  it;'  but  I 
take  it  that  the  day  will  come  when  England 
will  carve  upon  yonder  statue  of  the '  then 
Viceroy  of  India,  as  his  most  splendid  memorial, 
the  once  scornful  nickname  of  "  Clemency 
Canning."  The  day  is  coming,  I  take  it,  when, 
alike  in  the  policies  of  earth,  and  before  the 
judgment-seat  of  heaven,  the  names  of  Selwyn 
and  Coleridge  and  Patteson  in  the  Pacific;  and 
of  Adoniram  Judson  in  Burmah  ;  and  of  David 
Livingstone  in  Africa  ;  and  of  Henry  Martyn, 
and  Heber,  and  Cotton  in  India,  shall  avail  us 
more  than  many  of  those  bloody  battles,  where, 
for  every  score  of  ours,  a  thousand  fall  of  those 
other  sheep  of  Christ,  which  are  not  of  this 
fold,  but  who  must  some  day  hear  His  voice. 

My  brethren,  we  have  swept  over  a  wide 
range,  on  this  last  occasion  on  which  for  the 
present  I  shall  address  you  ;  nor  will  my  words 
be  in  vain  if  they  lead  us,  as  citizens  of  Eng- 
land, to  meditate  humbly  on  our  vast  duties 

■  Havelock  in  the  Indian  Mutiny  had  to  remind  his  soldiers 
that  "it  became  not  Christians  to  take  'heathen  butchers  for 
their  models."    See  Marshman's  Life  of  Havelock. 


SERM.  X.]  MAJVV  FOLDS:  ONE  FLOCK.  339 

as  citizens  of  the  City  of  God.  And  while, 
as  you  will  see,  I  am  standing  entirely  aloof 
from  all  political  inferences,  I  beg  you  not  to 
think  these  truths  unpractical.  They  are 
deeply  religious  if  they  break  the  sordid  dream 
of  our  individual  selfishness,  and  I  never  speak 
from  this  place  without  feeling  how  much 
we  might  do  if  but  God's  fire  would  touch 
our  hearts.  Much — for  we  are  many.  You 
have  doubtless  seen  the  beautiful  scientific  ex- 
periment which  is  called  "the  superposition  of 
small  motions."  A  large  and  heavy  bar  of  iron 
hangs  motionless  in  the  air  :  near  it  is  hung  a 
tiny  ball  of  cork.  The  little  cork  is  thrown 
against  the  iron,  for  some  time  with  no  effect ; 
but  each  blow  of  the  little  ball  has  awoke  a 
continuous  vibration  in  the  iron  ;  and  soon  it 
begins  to  tremble ;  and  then  to  move  ;  and  then 
to  sway ;  and  then  to  swing  strongly  to  and 
fro,  under  the  accumulated  vibrations  of  those 
small  but  many  impacts.  So  one  individual 
can  do  but  little  in  a  vast  society,  but  the  just 
influence  of  many  individuals,  all  touching,  and 
all  touching  again  and  again,  in  one  direction,  is 


340 


EPHPHATHA.  [serm.  x. 


felt  irresistibly  throughout  the  mass.  If  each 
of  us  recognised,  in  our  hearts,  and  in  our  lives, 
the  brotherhood  of  man; — the  fact  that  man 
forms  but  one  flock  in  different  folds  under  one 
Shepherd,  it  would  not  be  long  before  London 
would  be  better  ;  and  if  London  then  England  ; 
and  if  England  then  the  world.  Is  it  not  an 
aim  worth  living  for  ?  is  it  not  a  task  worth 
effort  to  hasten  the  day,  when  we  too,  God 
helping  us,  may  be  suffered  to  take  a  place, 
however  humble,  in  that  great  multitude  which 
no  man  can  number,  of  all  nations,  and  kin- 
dreds, and  people,  and  tongues,  standing  before 
the  throne,  and  before  the  Lamb,  in  white 
robes,  and  palms  in  their  hands  ; — hungering  no 
more,  and  thirsting  no  more,  but  led  to  living 
fountains  of  waters,  ten  thousand  times  ten 
thousand,  and  thousands  of  thousands  ; — sing- 
ing praise  to  Him  who  has  redeemed  them 
by  His  blood  to  God } 


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